


Locked and Reloaded

by stayarmytinyzenmoa_l



Series: Locked and Reloaded [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: F/M, NCT Dream - Freeform, NCT U, Reader Insert, SuperM - Freeform, marvel AU, nct - Freeform, x Reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:27:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27966032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stayarmytinyzenmoa_l/pseuds/stayarmytinyzenmoa_l
Summary: Marvel AUGenre: Action, Light ComedyPairing: NCT Dream x ReaderSummary: The Maverick is a vigilante group with no moral alignment, they take on whatever mission pays the most and they don’t give a damn about who their client is. Made up of a born genius, an estranged prince, a street rat, two dishonored sorcerers, a very bored physics major, and a too-strong-for-his-own-good college freshman, it’s a miracle that the Maverick can even do as much as greet each other in the morning, but this found family makes it work. Shortly after the group championed the pioneering of Dimensional Travel, a peculiar mission is sent over to them, one that involved traveling to Dimension 62, the very same dimension that not only erased half of their population but also brought it back. With nothing but a promise to pay triple of their highest pay offer, the group agreed to open the package delivered to them by a D62 organization that called itself S.H.I.E.L.D.Character Profiles in Pt. 2 of this Series!
Relationships: Avengers Team/Reader, NCT Dream Ensemble & Reader, SuperM Ensemble/Reader
Series: Locked and Reloaded [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2152581
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: This is an AU where no one died after Endgame and all is well! After all, this is a different dimension, so it’s bound to be different from the MCU itself, but the same events have occurred. Again, the only difference is that everyone has survived, haha. Please read the character profiles before reading this chapter! It’ll explain a lot, or if you’re too lazy at least read the first world building section, hehe. Alright, please enjoy the first chapter of Locked and Reloaded!
> 
> Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in or condone these actions. I would never wish any of these actions to occur to the Idol(s) mentioned in the writings of these stories, nor do I wish any harm on them.
> 
> TW: Language, Drinking, Violence, Guns, Death, Blood, Mentions of Human Trafficking

Three men sit in an office with a tense atmosphere. One was fidgeting around with any closest thing to him and the other was sitting perfectly still. Behind the large desk is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, and he had called Tony Stark and Steve Rogers to join him, with the remainder of the Avengers awaiting further briefing. After the whole ordeal with the infinity stones and Thanos, it became horribly clear that there would never be any rest for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and despite their victories, there will always be enemies hiding amongst the shadows.

“Alright, I’ll bite. Why’re we here, Fury? And at this time?” Tony asks, looking at his watch. It was currently a quarter to midnight. Fury sighs and puts down the files.

“They’re late. I’ll just brief you two while I wait for their sorry asses to show up,” Fury growls. He turns on the screen behind him and the news is playing above.

_“Man breaks into multiple homes and claims that he is from another dimension where the Avengers are evil, and advises that we be wary of our saviors and think twice before trusting them. Before he could cause any more harm, he was detained by local police, no statement from S.H.I.E.L.D., nor the Avengers at this time, but we do know that he attacked a few pedestrians.”_

“Okay, and?” Tony shakes his head.

“Well, we took him off of the New Jersey police’s hands and questioned him ourselves. Sure, he was saying a whole load of bull shit, but we found something rather interesting on him,” Fury reaches into his desk and tosses out a U.S. passport. “He insisted that this was his proof that he came from another dimension.” Steve reached out to it first, opening the passport to the first page.

“Well… his name was…” Steve narrowed his eyes. “This is impossible,” he puts the passport down. Tony takes it next.

“Benjamin Grimm. You mean… the orange dude?” Tony reads over the passport. “It's obviously counterfeit.” Fury takes the passport and rips the back cover, exposing a tracker.

“Nope. 100% real,” Fury continues. “But I was looking more at the country of birth.” Steve takes the passport again and reads it.

“The Northern Kingdom of America?” He scoffs. “Now you’re pulling our leg, Fury.”

“No, I am not. But now this brings up a new threat,” Fury leans back on his chair and folds his hands together. “With new dimensions comes new problems, and we have to be ready for that. Your new mission is to protect a genius inventor that S.H.I.E.L.D. has hired while they build a device called the Dimensional Traveler. No harm is to come onto them at all, am I clear?”

“Crystal,” Tony answers.

“So you really think that there are other dimensions out there?” Steve asks.

“I don’t _think_ that there are other dimensions, I _know_ that there are other dimensions. And I’ll prove it once that lazy son of a bitch shows up,” Fury slams his fist on a table and, speak of the devil, the door to the office opens.

“Nick!” Changmin walks up to the one-eyed director and shakes his hand without hesitation. “Long time no see, old friend.”

“Shim Changmin, you don’t look a day over thirty,” Fury turns his attention away from him and faces the two Avengers.

“How long has it been since we’ve seen each other? Let’s go for drinks, Nick!” Changmin has a bright smile on his face.

“Shim, these two are—”

“Anthony Stark and Steve Rogers,” Changmin shakes their hands. “Mr. Stark, you’re rather famous in Dimension 98, I’m not really a fan, but the person you’re going to meet is,” Changmin says.

“Uh… thanks,” Tony takes his hand from his grasp.

“And Mr. Rogers, haha… no comment,” Changmin removes his own hand and Steve frowns.

“Mr. Shim here brought with him someone rather important, the person the Avengers are assigned to protect and the inventor of the Dimensional Traveler.”

“Oh, yeah, but uh… her team didn’t want her to come alone, so luckily your team here won’t have to do much,” Changmin rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Noted,” Fury dismisses. “Even so, with this device we will be ready for any threat from another dimension that arises, and we are paying a pretty penny to make sure that it is foolproof,” Fury further explains.

“Dimensional Travel? Care to prove you’re from this so-called dimension 98?” Steve asks.

“I’ll answer that,” Fury turns on the screen again, but this time it shows a practice room. “This is live footage of our dimension’s version of Shim Changmin. He is a member of the popular South Korean pop duo TVXQ.”

“That’s weird, I couldn’t even sing a song if I tried,” Changmin hums.

“Enough beating around the bush, Shim.”

“Right, right, sorry about that, Nick. Alright, you guys can come in now,” Changmin calls over his shoulder. “You’ll have to excuse them, they were rather stubborn about making sure that (Y/N) didn’t come alone. They weren’t so convinced at your promise in the package, Nick.”

“I don’t blame them, new dimensions come with unknown variables,” Fury leans into his chair. A few seconds later, the doors to the office open again and six boys walk in. They stand in a straight line and bow their heads quickly. 

“Kids? A kid is going to build the Dimensional Traveler.” Steve looked confused.

“Oh, actually I’m eighteen,” the tallest one answers.

“You are a child,” Tony gestures to him. “Anyways, so which one of you bright boys cracked dimensional travel?” Tony asks. Changmin turns around and his smile drops.

“Where’s (Y/N)?” His tone was suddenly much more serious, and Tony and Steve shared a quick glance, ready to jump if something takes a turn for the worst. The shortest of the boys looks down the line and his own expression drops.

“Good question, Changmin,” he puts on a tight smile. “Jisung, where is (Y/N)?”

“She was just behind me…” Jisung looks around him. “Jeno! She’s your best friend! Why weren’t you keeping an eye on her!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you guys said I’m too “over-protective” of her and that I need to “back off” because it’s “not my place” to make sure she’s okay!” He glares at the blue-haired boy.

“Hey, don’t pin this on me!”

“It’s not like you know where she is either!” The black-haired one says.

“If I may,” the tan-skinned one cuts in.

“Do you know where she is?!” Jeno asks.

“No, not a clue.”

“Then why the fuck did you say something?!” Jeno marches up to the boy, but the shorter one steps in the way. “Fuck off, Renjun.”

“Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up! I swear to god every time I’m around you goddamn idiots I get a goddamn migraine!” Changmin snaps. The boys fall silent and go back into their line. “Yes, Chenle?”

“Jaemin… didn’t you bring Aimee with you?” He asks. Jaemin holds up a hard drive.

“Yeah, I thought she would be helpful.”

“Do you guys have a computer that can handle a program made up of 500 IBM Power 750 servers that each have a 8.5GHz processor with about 60 terabytes of RAM?” Changmin asks.

“Actually it’s 65,” Jaemin corrects.

“What he said,” Changmin sighs. Tony slowly raises his hand. “Perfect, we’re going to borrow that. Lead us to it, then.” Tony was slightly taken aback by the sudden brashness of Changmin, he had done a full 180 since he entered the office. With a few more worried side glances to Steve and Fury, he stood up from his chair and lead the group to the computer he was talking about. The group walks out into the Avenger’s headquarters, with people in suits rushing around them doing their jobs. And soon the other Avengers, catching sight of Tony and Steve, make moves to join them until Fury signaled for them to stay away. Tony walks into his main lab and points to the supercomputer in the middle. Jaemin walks up to it, observing it slightly.

“You use holo-tech?” Jaemin asks.

“Yup. State of the art.”

“Cool,” Jaemin smiles. He presses on the hard drive. “Can I remove your A.I. program?”

“What? Why would you need to do that?”

“Aimee doesn’t play well with others,” Jaemin says awkwardly.

“Just trust him, if we put Aimee into a system that had another A.I. in it she’ll corrupt it beyond recognition,” Renjun insists. 

“Okay then, take F.R.I.D.A.Y. out,” Tony gives the go-ahead. Jaemin removes the program and replaces it with his. All power in the lab shuts down momentarily before all the lights turn back on. One of the projectors turns on and a holographic screen appears. In it was a rather simple looking girl wearing a white uniform.

 _“Hello, Jaemin!”_ The A.I. says. _“So I see you losers finally got enough money for an actual computer instead of the shitty one I have to stay in.”_ Steve looks and Tony, slightly appalled, but Tony breaks out into laughter.

“Introduce yourself,” Jaemin shoves his hands in his pockets.

_“Hi, hi! I’m Aimee, short for Artificial Intelligence Mark Eighty. I was developed by Na Jaemin and Shin (Y/N) to be an aid during missions and research. As long as I have a stable connection, I am able to communicate and connect all seven members of the Maverick plus Mark Lee so long as they stay in a general radius of 400 miles, or roughly 645 kilometers.”_

“Aimee,” Changmin steps onto the circular pad.

_“Changmin.”_

“Where’s (Y/N)?”

 _“Um… about that,”_ Aimee answers, she makes two finger guns and presses her index fingers together repeatedly. _“She… um… she told me not to tell you.”_

“Bull shit!” Renjun shouts.

 _“Ooh, language, Renjun!”_ Aimee laughs.

“Aimee, come on, please tell us,” Jeno runs a tired hand down his face. “We’re on a time crunch, here, and we can’t start the project until (Y/N) gets here.”

_“No, I can’t tell! She said she’d reverse my cute girl code if I did! I can’t go back to being a bland 2D face in a box again, Jeno!”_

“Is she the boss of you?” Jeno asks. Aimee looks shocked, she holds a hand over her mouth and thinks for a moment. Then her hands go to each side of her head and she musses through her hair.

 _“Ahh! It’s a trap! It’s a trap!”_ She exclaims.

“Tell us where she is or else I’ll upload porn into your database!” Changmin shouts. Aimee grows more frustrated.

 _“Ugh! Fine!”_ She disappears from the screen and a new live camera appears, and in the center of it all was the woman of the hour.

~

The heavy bass of whatever song was playing thrummed around your skull, with equally heavy melodies guiding your senses. The smell of alcohol mixed with sweat and who knows what else was in the air, and never have you felt more alive. You pulled yourself away from the dance floor, a bit upset that you had to step away from the handsome nobody you were just grinding against, but oh well, you were thirsty. You took a seat at the bar, flagging down the bartender and asking for a rather simple drink. You crossed your legs, paying no attention to the way your red dress rode up your thigh, and rested your chin on the palm of your hand, glancing around surreptitiously.

When you had initially arrived in the new dimension, you had a clear goal in sight, but as soon as you saw the line to get into a particular club, you couldn’t help yourself. It looked so fun, after all, and you were sick of wasting your time working or studying, you wanted to let yourself go for a bit. So, while Jisung was distracted with how different the pigeons looked in this dimension, you slipped away quietly, making a pit stop at the nearest dress shop and buying the best dress you could find. You could pay Renjun back later, after all. Jokes on him, he shouldn’t have left his card sticking out of his pocket.

A martini glass was placed in front of you and you looked up at the bartender, visibly confused.

“Guy over there ordered it for you,” the bartender nodded his head down the bar, and you followed his gaze to a rather handsome somebody. You both locked eyes, and you both held it for a couple of seconds before you turned away shyly, tracing the rim of your glass with your perfectly manicured fingertip.

“I’ve never seen you around here before, doll,” he takes the seat next to you. “Where’re you from?”

“Staten Island,” you answered without hesitation, but you kept your eyes on the glass. You snuck a quick glance at him and he was, no doubt, handsome in some aspects. Chiseled jawline, sharp features, and, good god, his eyes. You felt like you could get lost in those seas of blue, but you had to mediate yourself. “Yeah, I’m rather new here,” you pushed your stray hairs behind your ear and he chuckled. He held his hand up and flagged the bartender again, you looked over at him and smiled, though you did notice the man slip something into your drink. A small smirk formed on your face.

Hook.

Line.

And sinker.

You turned back to the drink and downed it in one go, it was fruity and sweet, you loved the way the flavors mixed together so nicely. Were you drunk? _Fuck_ no. It would take way more than a spiked martini to even get you to slur your words, but damn have you seen enough drunk people to know how to act like one. You hummed softly, blinking your eyes a couple of times.

“Oh, are you alright?” The man asks.

“Mmhmm, I’m okay,” you answered in a small voice. “Sorry, my head hurts a little…”

“Let me find you somewhere to lie down,” he wraps an arm around your waist and guides you to the back of the bar. It was now you noticed that someone else’s eyes were on you. You looked up and noticed the security camera trained on you. You masked your knowing smile with a faux drunk one and winked at the camera. About time they noticed you were missing. A man guarding the back door opens it wordlessly and the one guiding you ushered you in, leading you to a back room. He tosses you on the bed and climbs over you. “Are you feeling alright, doll?” He runs a hand up your thigh.

“Mmhmm…” you answered quietly again, reaching behind him and cuffing his face between his hands. “I’m so drunk,” you giggled.

“I know, doll, I know,” he chuckles. “I’m going to make you feel so good,” he reaches under your dress.

“I know,” you giggled. You pressed harder on his face and snapped his neck. The body falls limp on top of you and you pushed it off with ease. You took out your card and waved over it a few times, the holographic interface sparking to life. You took a picture of the man you were with and sent it in. Soon, your bank balance opened up and it filled with three billion units. “I always feel good when I see money in my account,” you smiled. The door opens and shuts behind you.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Jeno! Hi, best friend!” You tossed your hair over your shoulder and waved at him.

“You couldn’t have just told us that you saw a walking money bag?!”

“It’s not fun that way!”

“Ugh, this is so embarrassing. This is so embarrassing! You’re so embarrassing!”

“Hey, I’ll admit that I’m fucking embarrassing, but you’re also fucking stuck with me so you’d better get used to it!”

“That’s what’s so embarrassing about it, I’m not fucking surprised at all!” He shouts. “Who was he anyway?!”

“I dunno, some rich bastard.”

“Okay, okay… I’ll be real I was mainly scared that you were actually going to go all the way through with it.”

“I was considering it, but you guys are in the compound now right? So I probably have an audience that’s more than you and the other boys.”

“Yeah, you do. And one of them happens to be this dimension’s version of your idol. So we’re going to go back _now_ , and deal with it.”

“Ugh… fine.” You hopped off of the bed and rolled your shoulders. “Do I at least look great in this dress?”

“You look sexy. Okay, let’s go.”

“Yay! Okay!” You both walk over to the door and open it to seven guns pointed at you. You close it slowly. “That doesn’t look fun.”

“No, not at all.”

“Still have enough power to teleport back?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“Oh, okay, so we gotta deal with that then?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” you pressed your lips together and nodded. Jeno kicked the door off of its hinges and charged first, disarming the closest person and turning the stolen pistol on the next. You were quick to follow, pulling a knife out and stabbing one of the armed men’s jugular, followed by a quick roundhouse of the one behind you. Jeno opened fire on the collapsed door, assuring that the man under it was dead and nothing more, before slamming the person coming up behind him with the handle of the pistol in his hand. You grabbed the final opponent’s arm and twisted it behind his back, and Jeno used the last bullet in the pistol. “Huh, that was easy.”

“Where’d you get that knife?”

“From—”

“Wait. Stop right there, do I want to know?”

“From my bra you fucking pervert.”

“Oh, makes sense,” Jeno says awkwardly. “Alright, let’s go now. The music in the club is so loud I’m pretty sure people thought that the gunshots were just apart of the DJ’s trash playlist.” He opens the door and you both walk out into the main room, pushing through the drunks and everyone else with ease before stepping back out into the busy streets of New York. You both walked down the sidewalks, people seemingly making way for the two of you instead.

“Hold up,” you held one finger up and took off your heels. “My feet are killing me…” you mumbled.

“I’ll never understand why you insist on fighting in those, you know.”

“I look hot, okay?!” You stuck your tongue out and went back to undoing the intricate laces that wrapped around your ankles. “Alright, I’m good now,” you walked back up to him barefoot and held the shoes behind your back. You both turned into a dark alley and once you walked around the building you had to close your eyes momentarily to readjust to the bright lights. The sliding doors opened and you walked into the lab at the Avengers’ Compound.

“Hey, losers!” You waved lazily.

“How did you two get here so fast?” Tony walks out into the hallway and runs back in.

“Teleportation spell, really basic,” Renjun explains. “Even an idiot like Hyuck could learn it.”

“And I _have_!” Haechan smiles.

“Is it bad that I’m not even disappointed at this point?” Renjun sighs.

“Nope, you’ve known me for too long, Renjun,” you patted his back gently. Jeno pulled off a lab coat from the side and handed it to you. “Thanks.” You slipped it on quickly and lazily slid back into your heels. You walked up to the three D62 natives and put on a smile, holding your hand out to them. Fury steps forward first and shakes it.

“Ms. Shin.”

“Director Fury, it’s nice to meet you, sir,” you said. “Mr. Rogers,” you nodded your head towards him.

“Hello, Ms. Shin,” Steve reiterates.

“Please, just (Y/N),” you corrected him. You walked up to Tony next and shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m such a huge fan! I’ve read all of your books and attended all of your public lectures and speeches, you’re honestly one of my biggest inspirations, sir, and I’m so humbled to meet you in person,” you stopped shaking his hand and walked up to the circular platform.

“Nice to meet you too?” Tony tried to follow your movements.

“Changmin, sorry to embarrass you in front of your man crush,” you teased. “But we still need a down on the apartment while we’re gone so I had to do what I had to do. Plus, we were already a good, what, seven hours late because of traffic? Didn’t want to keep them waiting any longer,” you said.

“I really should’ve expected it, honestly,” Changmin rolls his eyes.

“Aimee, remember what we spoke about?” You tapped your wrist a few times and the circular platform surrounds itself with various screens of differing sizes, each had different articles or science journals on them.

_“Yes, ma’am. Unfortunately, there are no metals that perfectly mimic the properties of Atronium, but the closest I could find was Vibranium.”_

“Oh yeah, nerd number one was telling me about that,” you flicked your hand and a pair of glasses appeared in them. You put them on quickly and tapped your wrist, a holographic platform appearing on it. You increased it’s size into one of a small tablet and pulled up the molecular structure of Vibranium. You walked past the surprised Avengers, not paying them any mind while you began your impromptu research. “While I was wandering around the nightclub I met this scientist who was dragged there by her friends because she needed to get laid or something like that and she told me all about it. Fascinating stuff, I must say,” you said to no one in particular.

Again, Tony and Steve are left awestruck. You were completely different from the woman they just saw kill three people, in fact, if they didn’t see the footage of you at the nightclub, they wouldn’t have suspected at all. But what was most jarring was how young you were, and you have already proved yourself to be more than capable of handling yourself. No words were shared between the two, but their thoughts were essentially synced.

_Did this kid really need protecting?_

They looked at the six boys who came with you, Changmin had referred to them as your team. They were a bit _lacking_ , so to say. Or at least, that’s what they seemed like. The one who was standing next to you, Jeno, had a good head on his shoulders, that was Steve’s first observation. Then the one with blue hair, he seems like a genius himself, considering that he had coded a majority of Aimee alongside you, of course, and that was Tony’s observation. They haven’t seen enough of the other members to make a good general consensus, however, even with just those two, it made their job seem pointless.

“Any day now, Aimee,” you waved through a few screens.

_“There are five types according to my findings. The one we need is Vibranium A, native to the continent of Africa and found in the region at and around the kingdom of Wakanda.”_

“Uh-huh, go on,” you held your hand out to Jisung and hands you a piece of gum, you popped it in your mouth and continued observing the atom. “Sorry I’m ignoring you guys, by the way, I have to work while I’m on a roll or else I hit roadblocks,” you mumbled. But Tony understood, a bit more than he should, actually. That’s how the brains of geniuses work, always moving from one topic to another, and if you don’t take action now, that’s it, you’ll never be able to piece together something so brilliant again.

_“It absorbs vibratory and kinetic energy, and if modified enough it can even use that energy to cause other matter to disintegrate.”_

“Oh shit, we don’t want that.” You looked up at Aimee with understandable concern.

_“This can be avoided.”_

“Oh, okay, cool.” You blew a small bubble and popped it between your teeth. You close the hologram and turn around. “Eyepatch… eyepatch… eyepatch… ah! There! Changmin mentioned you’re in charge of materials. Okay, I need five tons of this vibranium A thing, and I also need a reliable power source that is preferably self-producing, but I guess like twenty million triple-A Duracell batteries work too. I’m also going to need at least, like, eight? Is eight a good conservative guess?” You looked over at Chenle, who had been running calculations all the while you were talking.

“Yeah.”

“Eight people who are completely okay with the possibility of dying to be test subjects.”

“Done, and done,” Fury nods. You stopped in front of Steve.

“Holy shit, I’m so sorry, you look so different in this dimension, I can’t get over it,” you look him up and down. You shook your head and walked back up to the platform, looking at all the articles surrounding you.

“Sorry, I get excited when I’m in labs, I just feel so cool, you know?” You turn back around. “But I believe you deserve a much more proper introduction. Hi. I’m Shin (Y/N), I invented the D.T. but my thick ass didn’t patent it so fucking Choi Yeonjun stole my design but the dumbass doesn’t know how to manipulate the quantum variables right so ha! Jokes on him for being a dumb bitch,” your voice trailed into more of a murmur at the end, but it was still loud enough for people to understand what you were saying.

“You didn’t forget, we just didn’t have any money at the time,” Chenle corrects.

“Right, that too,” you sighed. “Oh, and before I forget, these six are a part of my team called the Maverick, pretty basic, we just do whatever job happens to pay the most, and that just happened to be this little commission from S.H.I.E.L.D. this time. Short stack is Renjun, tall boy is Jisung, the one playing with those toxic chemicals is Chenle, the one trying to pocket that weird unknown metal is Donghyuck but we call him Haechan, the one marveling at the mark 32 is Jaemin, and Jeno is the one who is currently looking through your browser history and judging you,” you ended with a short laugh.

“I’m sorry, I’m having a hard time following,” Steve shakes his head. “I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that you killed seven people in the past half an hour.”

“Excuse you, I killed _three_ people,” you corrected him with a sharp glare.

“You talk like you haven’t killed people, Rogers,” Tony scoffs. He had to admit, he found you interesting, he felt like the two of you could have interesting conversations.

“They did nothing to her!”

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that,” you narrowed your eyes at the blonde again and reopened your hologram, continuing to fiddle with the vibranium atom. “But if you must know, the first guy, at least in this dimension, was a many-a-time kidnapper who sold his victims on the deep web to the highest bidder, had a high bounty because he’s not the first version in the dimensions to do that so now he has what we call a “red stamp” which basically means to kill him in any and every dimension. Whoops.” You put your hand on the computer’s main hologram and brought it down towards you, laying it out like a map in front of the group.

“So here’s the plan,” you say.

“Uh, (Y/N)?”

“Yes, Jisung?”

“Your wrist is bleeding.”

“It’ll stop after a few seconds.”

“No… (Y/N)… your wrist is _bleeding_ ,” Jisung points at it. You hold it up and gasp, pulling up your sleeve at your forearm and seeing that was entirely coated in blood.

“Oh my god! How the fuck did I _not_ notice that?” You looked under your arm. Renjun ran forward and observed it. “Oh my god, oh my god, that was from earlier, why hasn’t it healed yet?!”

“Wait, I thought you’re mutant, why is not healing?” Jisung asks.

“Good question, good question, I guess I’m not fully mutant,” you held your wrist up and watched the scarlet drip down. “I hope this doesn’t become a bigger problem,” you frown. Changmin steps forward and stares at it.

“I have a theory, but I’ll have to check it. I’m going to go back. I’m sure you’ve got these seven young adults handled, right, Stark?” He asks. Tony blinks a few times and looks at him.

“No. I don’t.”

“Good, you’re all set,” Changmin nods, he points to every member of the Maverick, “don’t be too mean to them,” Changmin waves at the Maverick and presses the side buttons on his watch, then, with a quick burst of light, he’s gone.

“Uhh… It’s still bleeding!” You waved your wrist in the air. Renjun took a slide from the counter and smeared your blood on it. He covered the slide and put it under the microscope.

“Well, the good news is that your blood cells are still multiplying at an increased rate, which would explain why you’re still fully conscious.”

“Okay, and?”

“Yeah, just dress it, it’ll probably heal at the normal rate, if anything.”

“That’s dumb,” you muttered while Jisung handed you a roll of bandages. You dressed yourself easily, just like you’ve done many times before, and stared at the screen showing the properties of vibranium. “Uh… Mr. Stark?” You turned towards him.

“Yeah?”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a book on what vibranium is do you?”

“A… a book?” Tony asked.

 _“Mr. Stark hasn’t published any books in this dimension,”_ Aimee answers.

“What?! This dimension was robbed of _Quantum Theory and How it Relates to Nuclear Chemistry_?!” You gasped.

_“Yes.”_

“Aww, that’s my favorite, good thing I brought a copy,” you walked back to the horizontal plane you created.

“Boys, get over here. You three listen up too,” you gestured for everyone to surround the hologram. “Jaemin, do me a favor and input the code for Mark 109 of the D.T.”

“Sure,” Jaemin held his hand over the hologram and pulled up a coding window, inputting lines of code with ease. Soon, an image built itself in front of the group.

“This is the latest model of the D.T. I came up with, I’ll just have to modify it to work with this vibranium thing your dimension has to offer and make sure it doesn’t accidentally, you know, kill people instead of transporting them,” you explained. “Here are the dimensions of the D.T., the box down here is the main control panel, and I’ll add this section if we end up using the triple-A batteries.”

“Triple-A batteries will power this entire thing?” Tony asks

“Hypothetically, yes. Or at least it worked with marks one through 108,” you shrug. “But that should be it? Haechan, what do you think?”

“Should be fine.”

“Why are you asking him out of all of us?” Jaemin pouts.

“It was his idea to use the batteries last time, Nana,” you answered. You looked up to Fury. “All I need is a workspace and a place to stay, maybe about a hundred pounds of vibranium for testing, and I’ll have this D.T. ready in less than a week.”

“All provided,” Fury affirms. “How will you take your pay?”

“In the form of NCT or WayV albums, please! I’m two Kun photo cards away from finishing his set!” You clapped your hands together and the other Maverick members protested. “Oh my god, I’m kidding! I’ll send you Chenle’s account, he takes care of our finances since we’re all impulse buyers except him,” you took out a notepad and wrote down Chenle’s information and handed it to Fury.

“You’ll receive it after the device is finished, until then basic necessities will be provided to you.”

“Sounds great, thanks,” you nodded.

“Stark, Rogers, I’ll leave them to you. Brief the rest of the Avengers when you’re ready.”

“Yes, sir,” Steve salutes quickly and Tony nods. They watched Fury leave the room, both still thinking the same thing. They weren’t too keen on acting as babysitters, but you looked like you had everything handled, and with a sufficient enough team to keep you well protected, they couldn’t help but feel like they were unnecessary. Then again, they knew they would be harassed by Fury if something _did_ happen. “We’re going to bring in the rest of the Avengers to meet you, (Y/N), until then just do your job.”

“That’s the plan, Captain,” you nodded towards him and began pulling apart the holographic model. “Take your time, we’re not going anywhere anytime soon, after all.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: I’ve had this ready since before I announced my hiatus, I just kind of... forgot to upload it? Ahhh, I’m sorry guys. It’s here now though!!! I hope you all enjoy!! More fun times to come next chapter once I’m out of hiatus, promise!! Also, I have a few things prepared to release tomorrow, I was working on them while on my breaks at my job hehe. I’ll see you all in a bit!
> 
> Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in or condone these actions. I would never wish any of these actions to occur to the Idol(s) mentioned in the writings of these stories, nor do I wish any harm on them.
> 
> TW: Language, Violence, Guns, Mentions of Death, Blood

“Initial thoughts?” Steve asks as soon as the door closes.

“I like the smart one.”

“You like her because she reminds you of _you._ ”

“Exactly, boy scout,” Tony smirks. “Which is also why I’m going to keep an eye on her, I think we both know what curiosity leads to.”

“Oh yeah,” Steve rolls his eyes, an entire _list_ of catastrophes appearing in his mind. “And about the others, I can’t say I know what to think of them yet, and I’m not a fan of her ‘pit stop’ or however she put it.”

“Neither am I, but if what she said was true, then there’s nothing to worry about it, right?” Tony and Steve turn into another briefing room, looking at the Avengers in front of them. Sam and Bucky were sitting next to each other, as always, with Clint and Nat directly to their left. Across from them was Peter and Wanda, who were both in a silent conversation with Vision, Bruce, and Rhodey. Steve and Tony took their spots. “Hey, team.”

“So who are the new kids?” Nat asks.

“New kids?” Peter asks.

“Yup, looked around your age, Parker,” Clint chuckles.

“Hold up, where’s Thor?” Tony looks around.

“The god comes when he wants,” Wanda snarks.

“Who said you could go through your rebellious phase? Was it Barton?”

“Get to the point, Stark,” Nat stops the conversation before it could continue.

“I’ll have them introduce themselves in a bit but—”

“Don’t worry, I can do that,” Maria walks into the briefing room and holding onto an iPad. “All the information presented to us was given by Shim Changmin, who’s something like a Fury to us in Dimension 98.”

“Wait, backtrack, dimensions?” Bruce asks. Maria steps aside and shuts the blinds, the room illuminating around them to show various shapes and various systems.

“This is a rough map given to us by Mr. Shim, according to their research, they have found roughly two billion different dimensions, and to his knowledge, they are still counting. Although we don’t know how the dimensions were made, we do know that they have run independently of each other until now, where our dimension, D62, and their dimension, D98, have made contact. However, both dimensions are taking precautions to avoid having other dimensions interact.”

“Are we going by the whole ‘don’t meet your other version rule’?” Sam asks.

“According to Mr. Shim, coming into direct contact, meaning physical contact, with your other self could result in either spontaneous combustion, a complete rip in the fabric of time, or destruction of a dimension itself,” Maria closes the projection and materializes a screen in the middle of the meeting table.

“Holy shit,” Bucky’s jaw drops.

“Anyway, onto the team known as the Maverick, whose identities are kept unknown in D98, which allows them to have basic outside lives without fears of being killed in public, which is fair, but since they’re here, they’ve decided to drop the masks,” Maria explains as the first person appears on the screen. “The team itself is, in bare definition, a vigilante group. They don’t align themselves with the ‘good guys’ or the ‘bad guys,’ they just take whatever pays the most. There have been many accounts and receipts in which they have worked for the ally or the enemy. Argue with them if you want, they don’t give a damn.”

“Sounds like we’ll have fun working with them,” Clint frowns.

“They typically work well on their own, so you don’t have to do much, thankfully. Just make sure the construction of the D.T. happens smoothly. Don’t ask what it is, Fury told me to keep it classified,” Maria says. Tony and Steve shared quick glances and nod towards each other. “Note that seven of eight of their members are enrolled in a high-class university known as SMU. Let’s start with Na Jaemin, twenty-years-old, he’s working towards a degree in Particle Physics with a minor in Nanotech, although he has been cited to often work with D98’s Stark Industries. Brilliant mind, but will only ever come up with greater ideas with a team. He often works with (Y/N) in terms of mechanics and devices. Don’t ask me why, but the general media of D98 refer to him as Monsieur.”

“That blue-haired child is a _physicist_?” Tony’s jaw drops.

“Although he’s still a student, yes, and he’s one highly sought after. Most of the devices you’ll see them used were drafted and put together by him,” Maria says. 

“He also coded that A.I., right?”

“A.I.M.E.E.?” Maria asks.

“Yeah, that one.”

“Yes, I remember reading that he coded Aimee’s defensive and offensive features, while (Y/N) coded the rest,” Maria confirms. 

“Quick question, they’re popular with the press?” Clint asks.

“Yes and no,” Maria pulls up articles on the Maverick. “Again, these are all provided by Shim Changmin, and as you can see they’re all rather divided. The press and the general public were the ones who gave each member their names, as opposed to the three founding members who were previously a part of a criminal organization known as the Underground. As you can tell, these three founding members aren’t the most popular with their backgrounds, but it is clear that they tend to be in the public’s favor sometimes.”

“What kind of people did S.H.I.E.L.D. hire?” Steve clicks his tongue.

“All we can do is trust in Fury’s decisions,” Maria shakes her head. “Moving on, we have Lee Donghyuck, also twenty-years-old, who while enrolled in SMU’s aviation school is also minoring in Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics. He is known as the Joker in D98, and according to our info, it’s likely due to his wild card nature. Officially, he’s a support member, but his strategies are best for last-ditch efforts.”

“What’s psycholinguistics?” Bucky turns to Sam, who just shakes his head slowly.

“Park Jisung, eighteen-years-old, referred to as the Knight, is majoring in Criminalistics and Criminal Science, he is what we would refer to as _Enhanced_. Not a mutant, but not a normal human either. Enhanced metabolism and enhanced strength are highlighted for him. He’s also the youngest, and although it shouldn’t matter, Mr. Shim made it very clear that no one should make him upset,” Maria used a light tone. “One member is _not_ present, and his name is Mark Lee, twenty-one-years-old, the third founding member of the Maverick and SMU Computer Engineering graduate. Mr. Shim informed us that he is an active member of D98’s Avengers.”

  
“So they have an Avengers team too?” Steve looked hopeful.

“Yes, but I’d like to stress that none of you are apart of it.”

“Oh,” Steve sat back in his chair and a few small snickers were heard.

“These next two are interesting, Huang Renjun, twenty, and Zhong Chenle, nineteen; the Maven and Apollo respectively. Both are graduates from SMU’s Expedited Sorcery Program and both graduated in their class’ top ten, which led to their immediate enlistment into the Order of Magic; however, both members defected from the branch and joined the Maverick, reasons are unknown.”

“So… Harry Potter?” Peter asks.

“Essentially. It’s a branch of the military in D98, one ranked higher than standard military branches such as the army or air forces. Magic is rather central in their dimension, everyone is capable of doing it, but certain licenses are needed in order to perform D grade spells and above. Now, as much as I’d love to get into D98’s politics, I suggest we refocus on the topic at hand,” Maria stops herself before she could get carried away. “Lee Jeno, twenty, I believe he is a law student but is currently taking a break from classes. Mr. Shim told us we don’t have to worry much about him, as long as he’s in the same room with (Y/N) or knows that she’s safe, he shouldn’t be a problem.”

“What, is he, like, her bodyguard, or something?” Tony asks.

“I quote Mr. Shim’s words, ‘something like that,’” Maria looked over to Tony and waits for a nod before continuing. “Lee Jeno is one of the Maverick’s founding members and is a rank S assassin, again according to Shim, and don’t ask about those records because we don’t have them, Stark. All we know is that he’s killed enough people to be referred to as the Reaper.”

“Does he… kill people because they deserve to be killed?” Peter asks.

“Unclear,” Maria answers. “Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for, Byun (Y/N), nineteen, rank S assassin and founding member of the Maverick.”

“Wait, question, she introduced herself as _Shin_ (Y/N).”

“Shin (Y/N) is an alias of sorts,” Maria explains. “Mr. Shim made it very clear that this information cannot be shared with anyone.”

“Strange to be keeping secrets from the team,” Nat frowns.

“You’re the one to talk,” Steve looks over at her and she rolls her eyes.

“The Byun family is very influential in D98, if anything, (Y/N) changed her name to keep their names out of her business. Regardless, she is somewhat of the team’s leader, she’s the brains, the brawn, all rolled into one. And, again I quote this from Mr. Shim, ‘she’d be so much more if she wasn’t so goddamn lazy.’ Although she doesn’t have a high school degree, she has proven herself on multiple occasions to be a born genius. According to Shim, she often sat in on the other member’s lectures for fun and we can assume she learned what she knows from there alongside an entire collection of textbooks written by D98’s version of Anthony Stark, who is also the main business rival of her father Byun Jihoon,” Maria changes the image to reveal D98’s version of Tony Stark. 

Although the resemblance was clear, it was obvious how different the two were. D98’s Stark looked brighter and more put together than D62’s, it was clear he had lived a life of few troubles aside from why his particle accelerator wouldn’t function correctly. Tony sat back and wondered if, at one point, he could’ve been like that. Carefree, writing textbooks, not worrying about the world ending at any point, that would be the life, wouldn’t it?

“With all of that said, Byun (Y/N) is somewhat of the black sheep of the family and also illegitimate. No known records of her being even associated with the Byun family exist, there isn’t even as much as a picture of her. As a result, not much is known about her aside from her running away at the age of thirteen, being taken in by Shin Changmin alongside her childhood best friend Lee Jeno, and everything from there on forward is irrelevant,” Maria says.

“Some of them are younger than me and they’re already doing so much more than I ever have,” Peter gawks. “Can I take first patrol? I want to get to know them more.”

“Make sure they don’t influence you the wrong way, kid,” Tony jokes. Maria shoots him a glare and he shrugs with the same smug look he was known for.

“Again, like I said, the job of the Avengers is to make sure this construction goes by smoothly. Shim said that as long as the Maverick stays together it should be fine, but Fury stressed the necessity of the Avengers. Look, you don’t have to like them, just make sure they stay alive and satisfied,” Maria sighs. “They’re not like us in any way, and I can see why they would be hard to work with, but it’s an easy job. And I’m sure you’d rather do this than patrols,” Maria shuts off the projection and opens the shutters again.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Maria stops before she exits the room. “Mr. Shim stressed that your goals must always be in align with theirs, if they deviate even slightly then you must compromise. I will remind you that this group has no ‘moral alignment,’ they do what’s best in their interests, and I don’t need to remind you of the display Miss (Y/N) showed us. With that said, Fury wishes you the best,” Maria exits the room and leaves the group behind.

“Well, this is going to be _fun_ ,” Clint rolls his eyes again. “I’m definitely not taking first shift.”

“Hill’s got a point, though, I’d rather be doing this than patrols. How many more old women do I need to walk?” Sam crosses his arms. “I’ll watch them first with Parker if no one else wants to do it.”

“Be our guest,” Nat nods. The door opens and Thor walks in with a coffee and bagel in his hands. “Look who finally showed up.”

“Yes, yes. What did I miss?” Thor smiles. He looks around and stops at Peter. “Ah, Starkson!”

“Oh, uh, Mr. Stark isn’t my—”

“You walk faster than I thought, I just ran into you outside!” Thor laughs and takes his seat next to Steve.

“Huh?” Peter’s eyebrows scrunch together just as they hear the sound of glass shattering from the hallway down. The Avengers sprint into action and run towards the sound.

~

Steve and Tony leave the room and the Maverick relaxes. 

“Ugh… finally… I thought they were never going to leave,” Haechan slumps on a chair. “God… I forgot how tiring it was to jump dimensions.”

“Jeno, how are you holding up?” Jaemin leans against a control panel.

“Alright, but I don’t think I should use magic for a bit,” he rubs the bridge of his nose. “Not until we find out how the hell this dimension works.”

“Here, I grabbed a pack of these before we left,” you threw a small box, about the size of a ring box, on the floor and it expanded by five times. You pulled out a pack of cola and passed them out. “Aimee, put on my ‘Work Smarter, Not Harder’ playlist on Spotify,” you announced, hearing the beginnings of NCT Dream’s Quiet Down start playing.

“Ugh… our savior,” Haechan cracks his open easily. 

“Am I going crazy or does this sound like Hyuck?” Jaemin asks.

“You’re going crazy,” you answered. “Take your time to get rested up, something tells me that we’re going to be here for a _while_ ,” you sighed, taking a sip of your cola.

“How about you, (Y/N)? How’s that gash on your wrist?” Haechan asks. You removed the bandages carefully.

“Not healed yet,” you unwrapped the rest and replaced the bandage with a newer one. “Ugh, this sucks.”

“I wonder why, though,” Renjun says aloud. “Usually that’s healed as soon as it happens.”

“You don’t think…” Jisung stops mid-sentence. He didn’t finish, but everyone knew what he was thinking.

Death was a very sensitive topic amongst this group, you each had your own experience with it, and you each knew how to avoid it. But you were a rather different case, you wouldn’t say that you _can’t_ die, it’s more of a you _won’t_ die situation. Back in D98, you had a special ability known simply as ‘Reattachment,’ which essentially meant that as long as it was still intact, you could reattach any part of your body, and it worked fast enough so that you wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally offing yourself. Alternatively, say a section of you was… er… destroyed, as long as the donor was the same blood type, you’d be able to use that replacement instead.

With that said, the lack of reattaching was understandably concerning, especially for something as simple as a cut across your wrist. The rest of the group was, rightfully, worried. You had a habit of easily throwing yourself in normally life or death situations due to your special ability, and that’s what concerned them the most at this point. It has become a rather _nasty_ habit of yours to do this. If you weren’t fully paying attention, who knows what kind of trouble you’d get caught up in, and now the rest of the Maverick had to stay on their toes too. You looked up at Jeno for a second, both of you knowing that if you held it for any longer the others would get suspicious.

Did you know why you weren’t reattaching? Of course you did, and so did Jeno, but to say that reason aloud would only spell trouble for the team and this dimension. You both had the suspicion that this would’ve occurred when you jumped to a dimension so far away, but you both cast it aside. And now that it had come to the forefront, you both inwardly cursed yourselves for overlooking it so carelessly. So you both kept that reason quiet.

“I’m just going to have to be more careful,” you muttered. “We can’t risk anything.” The other members of the Maverick fell into their roles. Chenle and Jisung started going through public records, writing down important information that came up, highlighting certain laws that they were rather _infamous_ for breaking, and observing current events. Meanwhile, Renjun and Haechan started studying the general topography and geography of the area around them, making notes and strategies where appropriate, as well as noting which areas to avoid. You, Jaemin, and Jeno stood around different parts of the lab, figuring out what you could work with and how science and physics between D62 and D98 differed. The Maverick didn’t take many jobs outside of D98, as Renjun would often remind you all of the adverse effects of interfering with other dimensions, but when you did this was usually apart of the routine.

 _“(Y/N)?”_ Aimee speaks up.

“Aimee.”

_“I was running the simulations, you know, for fun?”_

“Mmhmm.”

_“There is a 1:10,000 ratio that the D.T. will take kindly to the vibranium. And even if it does, it would use so much energy that it would fry any normal energy source.”_

“So you’re saying we should triple the amount of triple-As?”

_“We could try that, but it will only allow the D.T. to stay open for five minutes.”_

“Ugh, bull shit,” you mumbled. You opened the holographic blueprint. Jaemin walked over next to you.

“Mind if I fix something?”

“Knock yourself out.” He pulls the holographic model closer to him and enlarges it, taking apart the battery compartments and reconstructing them.

“I was thinking if we arranged the batteries like this it could decrease the chances of frying the control panel as soon as it starts up,” Jaemin explains.

“Okay, and how would we fit that into the D.T.?”

“Well, I was thinking we could…” Jaemin is cut off when someone new enters the room. You look up and lock eyes with him, you didn’t recognize him at all. Wearing only a simple suit and a badge, the man looked around the glass lab. 

“Can I help you?” You asked, watching the bespectacled man move about. “What department are you from? Domestic?” His ears perked up at the name.

“Uh, how did you…?”

“Just a hunch,” you looked him up and down, your eyes locked on a small line of black that just barely peeked out from under his shirt collar. “Aww, what’s wrong? I don’t bite.” You noticed his jittery appearance.

“But I _do_ ,” Jeno glared at the boy. He caught on to it too, it would seem. Jeno flipped a knife in between his fingers casually, ready to move as soon as you signaled it.

“Oh, uh… it’s fine… I’m just here to deliver a quick message from Mr. Rogers,” he tries to look at the blueprints behind you, but Jaemin shut it off with a flat expression on his face. 

All seven of you knew that this wasn’t the best place to start a fight, in a high tech lab, in a dimension you didn’t know, you had intended to run around New York to figure out how the hell things worked but… you might need to multitask right now. You weren’t stupid, you did your research. You knew who every active member of this dimension’s Avengers were, and you knew what they were like, what they didn’t like, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and needless to say they are very different from their counterparts in D98. You spent nights studying S.H.I.E.L.D. as well, their history, what they stood for, and their staff, it was all apart of the general routine you and the rest of the Maverick tended to do when you picked up jobs. Needless to say, this one didn’t match the records and, judging by the way Chenle kept looking up and down from the holopad in his hands, your suspicions were well placed. The group stood in complete silence.

“Aimee.” You heard Chain start to play on the lab’s speakers and a mischievous smile appeared on your face.

_“Yes, (Y/N)?”_

“Kill the cameras.”

_“Right away, (Y/N).”_

“You were never easy to fool, huh?”

“Fuck, I knew we were followed!” A magic circle appears under Renjun. 

You had to come up with a plan, and fast. You’re still running off of the assumption that the man in front of you was an enemy operative, he was reaching for something behind him. You could easily grab him from where you were, but you don’t know what’s behind him, it could be something new, something foreign that you couldn’t have prepared for. To your left is Renjun, he’s about to cast a paralysis spell, if you tackled the agent right now it could lead to you getting caught in the crossfire. To your right is Jeno, who’s making a straight dash towards you.

Wait, what is he doing?

Jeno shoved you out of the way right as the operative pulled out a flash cannon.

“Shit—” Jeno didn’t have time to move out of the line of fire, and was blasted out of the building.

“Ugh, he’ll live,” you grabbed onto Ironman’s mark 78’s glove and slid it over your hand, you aimed it at the operative. “How the fuck does this work?!” You ducked your head as a beam of light moved over you. You looked at the melting metal behind you and grimaced.

“Did you really think that putting it on and aiming would make it work, idiot?!” Hyuck shouts.

“I figured it was some neuron thing!” You shout back.

“Guys, come on, don’t fight in front of Jisung,” Renjun grumbles. “Look! He’s upset!”

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, are you alright?” You quickly switch moods to check on the younger member, deflecting a bullet with the metal tray from the table next to you.

“Yeah, I’m okay, don’t worry about me,” Jisung gives you a small nod. “(Y/N), duck!” Jisung slid next to you and opened fire.

“Keep the fight in here!” You ordered, tumbling behind one of the lab tables. “Aimee! Lock the doors!”

_“Yes, ma’am.”_

“Chenle!” You looked over the table and dodged the bullet that came over you. “Chenle?”

“I’m over here,” you duck back down and notice Chenle next to you.

“Are you good?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mmhmm,” he nods slowly.

“Got in the way of the paralysis spell?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Great,” you take your time reloading your gun, you looked over at the operative, Haechan and Jisung had gotten him under control. “I _know_ that fucker didn’t come alone… suit up! He probably already alerted someone that we’re here,” you stood up from the table and made your way to the operative, who was too injured to move 

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Oh, no, _baby_ ,” you cooed crouching down next to him. You pulled your gun out from your jacket pocket and pressed the cold metal to the operatives face, then you drew it back and shot both of his ankles, the sudden ear-piercing scream not bothering the Maverick in any way. “Geez, _fuck,_ shut up! That’s not going to kill you, you’ll at least not be able to run, _damn._ I need you alive, I have a couple of questions for you.” You stood up and flicked your hand, watching the steel mask materialize in your grasp. By the time you had slid it on, the others were ready, identities hidden and standing at tense attention. You tapped onto your wristwatch and watched the nanobots do their job, effectively covering your dress with a much more combat-ready attire. You all listened carefully, trying to predict what was about to happen next, after all, the Followers never came alone.

“By the window!” Hyuck shouts. In an instant, your hand is webbed to the wall.

“Fucking hell… it’s Arachnid!” You kick one of the metal trays up and block the bullet coming your way. “Geez, Jeno, taking your time, aren’t you?” You grumbled.

Arachnid, or better known as D98’s Peter Parker, was a member of the Elite. To put a long story short… he’s someone you’d rather not deal with. You heard banging on the glass doors and looked over to see the Avengers, understandably, furious. Then, you saw what you’re hoping to be this dimension’s Peter Parker staring at the scene in shock. Tony turned to him and looked back at D98 Peter, and you sighed. This was going to be fun explaining. 

“Relax, buddy, we’re just having some fun!” You shout back towards the doors. You ripped your hand free of the webbing and fired three shots.

“Heard you aren’t as strong here, are you, Vendetta?”

“Wanna bet, bitch?” You taunted. “I can still turn you inside out.”

“I’d love to see you try,” he picks up a blade from one of the tables and hurls it towards you. Jisung sprints forward and grabs it before it gets far and turns it back on Arachnid.

“Stand down, (Y/N)!” Renjun casts the paralysis spell again. You moved out of the way just in time for the paralysis spell to go over your head.

“Can’t you fucking aim?!” You got back on your feet and blocked an incoming punch.

“Can’t you stay out of my way?!” Renjun argues. He looks at the magic circle that appeared in his hand. “Fuck this,” he canceled the spell and pulled out a handgun, shooting two bullets into Arachnid’s leg.

“Ah!” You drew your hand back when the Arachnid clawed onto your wrist, reopening your wound. He looked at his bloodied glove, then up at you, a sinister realization etched onto his face. “Shit…”

“I’ll be seeing you soon then,” a small smile was on his face while he made a hasty escape. You ran up to the window to find him but he was gone. The other five ran up next to you.

“That can’t be good,” Jisung frowns.

“No way.” You grumbled.

“I leave for five minutes and this lab already looks like _shit_ ,” Jeno sighs behind you. You each turn around and see him wiping off glass shards from his attire. “ _And_ you lose Arachnid, sometimes I feel like I have to do everything,” he frowns.

“Hey, Jeno,” you waved your hand slowly and took your mask off. 

“Tell me he didn’t at least see who any of you were.”

“Nope, not to our knowledge, at least,” Jaemin answers. Jeno walks over to the operative and shoves him over.

“(Y/N) and I will handle this one, you guys handle _that_ problem,” Jeno nudges his head towards the Avengers.

“Yeah, we can do that,” Jisung nods. “Where’s Chenle?”

“Behind that table, Renjun accidentally hit him with the paralysis spell.”

“Sorry, Chenle!”

“Fuck you!”

“Watch your language, I’m still older than you!”

“I hate you!”

“Oh my god, argue when I’m not in the room _please_ ,” you massage your temples. “I have a fucking migraine…” Jisung wordlessly pulls you closer to him as a light fixture drops onto the ground.

“How did you…?” You looked at him with a confused expression.

“When you get migraines things fall,” he answers before walking away and unlocking the door, letting the Avengers in.

“What the hell did you do to my lab?!” Tony shouts. “Wait, wait, no, wrong question. Who the _fuck_ was that?!” He pointed towards the large hole in the window.

“Maybe I should handle this,” you pressed your lips into a straight line. “Renjun, make sure that guy over there doesn’t try anything weird.”

“Got it.”

“So dimensions mean multiple versions of yourself, right? Well, that one just happened to be D98’s Peter Parker, we usually call him Arachnid because, you know, radioactive spider? Either way, he doesn’t like us. Well, he doesn’t like me, like… a lot. Like… wants to kill me by any means possible. But that wasn’t an option back in D98 because I’m just that great, but here in D62, for some reason, my ability isn’t working. Now, I’m pretty sure he had no clue that was a thing until my clumsy ass got too close and reopened this bad boy,” you waved your arm that happened to now be covered in blood, you’d deal with that later, “and well… I’m pretty much fucked so…”

“Does this mean we can go home?” Jisung asks.

“No way, I still have to build this D.T.” you answered him.

“Okay but now the rest of the Elite probably know that you can be killed…” Chenle reasons.

“Yes, but I still have to build the D.T.”

“Why is that stupid D.T. still relevant?!” Jeno pushes the operative to the ground and keeps his boot on his bullet wounds.

“Because we’re dirt fucking _broke_ , Jeno! The units I got from Mr. Rich-Trafficker will only last us, like, a _week_ with how our spending habits are.”

“Okay, so Jisung doesn’t get to buy another Fortnite skin, so what?” Jeno argues.

“Hey…” Jisung pouts.

“I’m talking about your _tuitions_ , losers,” you rolled your eyes.

“Oh my god… (Y/N) has a point,” Chenle gasps. “Did you hit your head? Are you sick?”

“I do have a migraine, thank you for asking,” you say, Jisung moved you aside again as another light fixture fell. “Thank you, Jisung.”

“Yup.”

“Wait, why are you just ignoring us? We need _answers_!” Steve demands. You look at him and hold back a laugh.

“Alright, old man, chill, I’ll tell you everything you need,” you held your hand out for him to shake it, which he does hesitantly. “After I deal with that fucker over there, yeah? I’ll be back, it’ll be like I never left.”

“Huh?”

“Aimee, did you find that empty room I asked you for?”

_“There’s a rather roomy storage closet three doors down.”_

“Ah, perfect. Jeno, grab him for me, yeah?” You looked over to him to see that Jeno had already dragged the operative to the door. You looked down at the trail of blood. “I’ll clean that later, promise.”

“Jaemin, tell them everything they need,” Jeno says over his shoulder.

“Yes, sir,” Jaemin nods lazily. Peter and Wanda moved out of the way of you and Jeno and let you both drag the operative out, just watching the two of you with wide eyes while you both walked away.

“Is it too late to tell Fury that I wanted to take a month off?” Sam asks Steve, who just nodded slowly.

“Hi, I’m Jisung,” Jisung steps in front of the Avengers with an awkward smile. “I’ll answer your questions while Renjun and Chenle fight, and while Jaemin and Aimee argue over the D.T., and while (Y/N) and Jeno torture the Followers’ operative.”  


“I’m sorry, while they _what?”_ Nat leans forward.  


“Do you have any questions?” Jisung rocks back and forth on his heels. The Avengers share weary glances before Steve speaks up.  


“Who was that? And are there _more_?”  


“Oh yeah, yeah, there’s a lot more,” Jisung nods. “I’d tell you about them but they’re all basically you, haha.”  


“I’m sorry?”  


“Uh... I mean they all look like you, and (Y/N) said they have the same powers of you... they’re like... mean versions of you guys,” Jisung squints his eyes and nods. “So like... yeah.” Another scream echoes through the hallway and Steve turns to run, but Jisung stops him.

“Kid-”  


“I don’t think you want to know what they’re doing, Mr. Rogers,” Jisung says in a low voice. “Anyway, any more questions? I love helping...” He steps back and smiles again.  


“Someone call Fury,” Rhodey shakes his head.  



	3. Chapter 3

**TW** : Language, Graphic Violence, Graphic Depictions of Blood, Light Torture

 **Notes** : Bringing back a lot of old ones haha, let’s have some fun!

**_Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in or condone these actions. I would never wish any of these actions to occur to the Idol(s) mentioned in the writings of these stories, nor do I wish any harm on them._ **

**_~_ **

You stared at the camera at the edge of the storage room, and the lens focused on you. Looks like the Avengers wanted a show after all, and, naturally, you were always the one to entertain. You tightened the ropes around the Operative’s wrists and walked to the front of the makeshift table you had made out of the various steel crates in the room and sat down on the smaller crate in front of it. You tapped your wrist and stared at the screen that appeared from it.

“How can you do that?” The Operative asks. Now the Operative, he was a sight himself. His features made it more than obvious that he had lost the fight, and the grimace on his face was not one that you found flattering. With tussled black hair and broken glasses that hung loosely from his nose, you’d be surprised if he still had any fight left in him.

[[MORE]]

“Did you do a scan of his body yet, Jeno?”

“He’s clear.”

“Magic included?”

“All clear.”

“Microchip programmed with holotech and bluetooth,” you explained. If you wanted to go more in detail, it was a prototype you and Jaemin put together, an improved version of the chips you each already had, only this one was more efficient. At the moment, the rest of the Maverick have versions that only allow for tracking. “Connects to the internet too.”

“Do you… all have that?”

“Yes, but it’s only (Y/N) with that model,” Jeno explains. “The holographic waves cause skin defects, not for (Y/N) though.”

“Oh…” the operative’s expression drops.

“So your name is… Kent? Clark Kent?” You looked at him, comparing him with the picture of him from D34, you went back a few times before snickering. “You look a little skinny to be Superman.”

“Who?”

“Quit playing games and get to it, (Y/N). The faster we’re done with this the faster we can go to sleep,” Jeno stayed in his spot leaning against the door.

“Give me a break, I’m running off of no sleep,” you groaned and kicked your legs up on another nearby crate. “I just got off of that assassination request in D75, remember?” You snarked back.

“Yeah, I do. I told you not to do that one, remember?”

“Yeah.”

“Remember why?”

“Because we had to go to this job right after.”

“And what did you do?”

“Went to the job.”

“Alright, so no complaining.”

“You suck, I forgot how bitchy you got when we jumped dimensions,” you frowned. “Go take a nap or something.”

“Maybe later,” Jeno sighs.

“Are you two… are you two okay?” Kent speaks up.

“Mind your own business,” Jeno glares at him.

“Yeah, don’t worry, we’re best friends, this is normal, you should listen to us post-mission,” you reassured him. “Alright, but he’s got a point. I’m fucking tired too, so I’ll make this fast, yeah?” You scrolled through the holoscreen, looking at his information.

“How do you have all of that information?” Kent asks.

“Do you want to know,” you glared at him.

“No, not really.”

“Wise choice,” you hummed. “So, you’re a Follower, aren’t you?”

The Followers of Nemesis were once a small organization, crime syndicate if you will. They were a bit of a laughingstock at first, anyone would be with that name, until they massacred an entire city, then they fell under the radar of the Government. The D98 Avengers had kept them contained for quite some time, but after what was only known as the Blue Moon incident, the Seraph had to bring in the Maverick to finally take control of them. And they did, a good majority of them actually, but the group has connections, and sooner than they thought, the Followers had rebuilt themselves with an all new elite group specialized to counteract both the Avengers and the Maverick alike.

Not a good look for either group, no no. So what you had against the Followers was rather _personal_. Jeno insisted it was just you being petty, but no. These people had a real mission to kill every Maverick member and they got a little too close for comfort to Jisung, hence why the younger boy had been moving around apartments between the Maverick members, and the new information that you weren’t _reattaching_ was cause enough for concern.

Back to the topic at hand, you were going to grill the _hell_ out of this operative.

“And you’re Byun (Y/N).”

“Yup. Bet you’d get a lot of money if you went back to the Followers and told them who the infamous _Vendetta_ is, now wouldn’t you?”

“Enough to escape for good, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“Bet. How about we make a deal and you give us two thirds that amount?”

“No.”

“Oh well, thought I’d ask.”

“(Y/N),” Jeno’s voice was firm.

“Ugh, fine,” you swung your legs off of the table and leaned forward to Kent. “Why’d you come here?” There was a heavy silence, it was a given that he wouldn’t have cracked so easily. You stood up from the box and paced around the room, waiting for an answer.

“Come on, let’s just get this over with, alright?” Jeno tries to expedite the interrogation. He got annoyed more easily when you jumped dimensions, and you didn’t blame him, it took a lot of energy to move in between the two, especially since D62 was so far from D98. Not to mention he was blasted through, what, three buildings? You should spare him the misery and stop playing around. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be, Kent.” Still, the operative remained silent. Jeno looked over to you and nodded, and you rolled your eyes but complied anyway. You grabbed onto the back of his head and slammed him against the table.

“Ah! _Fuck!_ I can’t tell you anything!” Kent grunts.

“Don’t make this hard, Kent, we just want what’s best,” you said in a sweet tone.

“I can’t tell you anything,” he insisted. Your smile quickly turned into a grimace and you grabbed onto the back of his head, slamming it down on the table again, and again, and again, and _again_. And you didn’t stop until you realized how much of a blubbering mess he had become, shaking in his seat, with the table painted in an array of red. You shook your head sadly and Jeno kicks off of the wall walking up to the operative and running his finger along the large bloodstain on the table. For a brief moment, his eyes turned snakelike, but with a singular blink, they were gone.

“Huh, I’m surprised he’s still alive.”

“He’s a _Follower_ , (Y/N), these people sacrifice their humanities for shit like this. We’d have to properly destroy the body for these pieces of shit to die,” Jeno reminds you. “With that said… Why’d you come here?” Jeno reiterates. The operative stopped resisting and slouched against his restraints.

“We had intel that the Maverick would be weaker in this Universe, so we took this as our chance to strike,” Kent answered monotonously.

“You couldn’t have done that from the start?” You sighed and held a hand to your head, your migraine growing against your skull. You’ve gotten them before, but they had never been this bad.

“I’m running out of reserves, I figured I’d save the rest for emergencies. But I’m dead tired so why the fuck not, right?” Jeno explains. “Who do you work for?”

“Arachnid.”

“Does he know anything?”

“No.”

“Who came with you?”

“Everyone in the Elite force.” Yours and Jeno’s expressions dropped. You looked over at the camera positioned directly above you.

On the flip side, the rest of the Maverick were reasonably shaken. Jisung’s mouth formed into a frown and the rest of the Maverick got to work, maneuvering around the Avengers easily, who had also taken to wordlessly helping the group clean up the lab.

“Alright, secure the area, we need those stealth shields up as soon as possible, set it to whatever radius is the size of this compound,” Renjun instructs. “Hyuck, start up on those encryptions already.”

“Already on it, boss,” Hyuck salutes sloppily and walks up to the main computer. “Aimee, you heard the guy.”

“Yes, I did. (Y/N) requested for them quite some time ago, actually.”

“What a try hard…” Hyuck mumbles, adding his own codings into the system.

“What a pain, this was just supposed to be a build-and-go mission but now we have to worry about not _fucking_ dying?! What kind of turn of events is this?!” Jaemin groans.

“Not to mention (Y/N) might be able to die now too…” Jisung pouts, knocking on what was remaining of the glass windows. With a glare from Jaemin, he apologized silently and got back to work. Chenle reconstructed the glass together, reversing the damage done as Jaemin stops by Tony.

“Looks like we’ll need you guys more than we planned for,” he looks him up and down.

“Wasn’t that the plan from the start?” Tony raises a brow.

“Tell me, has this universe discovered particle physics yet?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, have you published your theory on how it relates to spatial travel? Basic stuff, teleportation, motion, etc.”

“Uh… no.”

“Ugh, I have to do all the work again,” Jaemin throws his hands up. “You, spider kid. Get me a coffee.”

“It’s spider-man…” Peter frowns.

“Potato potahto,” Jaemin argues. “The rest of you clear out, you’re taking up my oxygen space, except for Stark,” Jaemin ushers out the D62 Avengers.

“We’ll inform you of everything once we get the materials together, please excuse our harshness at the moment, it wasn’t intended, but with the sudden change in circumstances we’re going to have to put a lot of the mission into reconsideration, thank you,” Renjun explains before Jaemin closes the door. “Jaemin, I get you’re tired, we all are, but at least have basic manners.”

“Basic manners? After we almost died? Not to mention the Elite followed us into this dimension, _ha!_ I could laugh out loud right now if I wasn’t so tired,” Jaemin scoffs.

“Good thing we tagged along, huh?” Chenle nudges Jisung, who nods. The door to the labs opened again and you and Jeno walked in.

“Where’s the operative?” Renjun asks.

“Taken care of,” you wiped your hands on your pants. “How are countermeasures going?”

“Taken care of,” Jaemin answers.

“Chenle and I still have to put up the protection charm, though,” Renjun quickly adds.

“Save it, we’re running on fumes in terms of magic,” Jeno speaks up. “The encryptions should be sufficient for now until we figure out how magic works here,” he nods.

“Right, magic is the least of our priorities right now,” you agreed. Peter walks in again, holding an americano, and Jaemin squeals in excitement.

“Thank you so much!” He walks over and wraps the boy in a prolonged hug before taking the americano.

“So you’ve reduced Parker to coffee boy, Nana?” You teased him.

“The rest of you get annoyed when I tell you to do it,” Jaemin chugs down about half of the drink before turning to Stark. “I need your brain, (Y/N), you come too,” he gestures towards the holographic blueprint that he had turned back on.

“You’re still working on the DT despite the… circumstances?” Tony asks.

“Oh this is like basic stuff for us,” Hyuck answers. “Last job Renjun got kidnapped by a couple who wanted to make him their boy toy.”

“Let’s… not talk about that,” Renjun coughs.

“And he _consented_ to it!” Haechan breaks out into laughter. “Renjun really— Mmph!” Renjun pinched his fingers together and drew them in a line, effectively silencing Hyuck.

“I was brainwashed, okay?! _Brainwashed_!” Renjun insists. “Now, go use that energy for something productive,” Renjun scoffs and gets back to work.

“Regardless we’re going to have to rework certain parts of our D.T. model to better reflect the physics of this Dimension,” Jaemin holds his phone up, waiting for it to get a signal. “Give me a second to run the calculations and conversions. You guys have a library?”

“Yeah, best one you can use for science is by Midtown High. Parker can take you,” Tony explains.

“I… I can?” The boy who was previously speaking to Chenle turned around. Tony nodded stiffly. “Oh, I mean, I can! Yeah, I can do that.”

“Cool, I’ll go with you then!” You shut off the hologram.

“Oh _no_. No, no, no, you’re staying here,” Jeno turned away from the screen he was looking at and walked up to you.

“What? Why? Because I can _die_? No, what the hell? I’m the one who figured out dimensional travel in the first place, I have to see how the fuck physics work here,” you argued.

“Actually, no, not _just_ because of that,” Renjun steps in. “But we know Arachnid is still out there, and from what the Operative told us, he didn’t come alone. It’s best if you stay put. You’re their number one target, and as soon as they get you it’s going to be a domino effect that will lead to all of us eventually,” Renjun explains. You narrowed your vision at him.

“I hate it when you’re right.”

“I mean,” Jaemin raises his hand lazily.

That’s new, he usually doesn’t get involved.

“I’d say I’m pretty good at fighting should it come down to it,” he crosses his arms.

“Jae-”

“In fact, I find it kind of offensive to both me and (Y/N) that you think we’re stupid enough to get caught, or even incompetent enough to handle one or two Followers,” Jaemin frowns.

Oh, you _liked_ this development very much.

“Actually, technically, none of us are supposed to go out,” Chenle spoke up. He turned on a screen and pointed to the news article.

_‘What looks to be NCT Dream Member Lee Jeno just seen walking out of the rubble from a partially destroyed building’_

“Oh _shit_ ,” Jeno grimaces.

“So I did some digging and guess what?” Chenle closes the tab to reveal another site. “According to this _Kprofiles_ site, the Maverick, save for (Y/N), are in a k-pop group,” Chenle points to the center picture.

“Where am I then?”

“You’re a university student,” Jisung shows you his screen. It was this dimension’s version of you going to MIT.

“Is that a good university?”

“The best,” Tony answers.

“Wow…” you gasped.

“Why am I so skinny?” Jeno leans back and stares at his D62 counterpart. “Am I that skinny?” He turns around.

“I think your shoulders are broader,” Jaemin says. “I look pretty similar,” Jaemin nods.

“Ugh, but you guys do know this means that if we do go out we have to hide our faces.”

“Right, right,” Renjun answers. “This is ridiculous, of _all_ the things we could’ve been in this dimension it had to be celebrities,” he sighs.

“How are we going to deal with that article?” You ask.

“We’ll have a talk with the company,” Tony finally speaks up. “Nothing a bit of money can’t do.”

“He has a point there,” you agreed. “Anyway, with that said, I say we grab a couple of masks, a hat, and bolt, what do you say, Nana?” You asked him.

“Sounds like a plan,” Jaemin whistles.

“Oh my god, in one ear and out the other,” Renjun sighs. “Like always.”

“As long as we don’t get caught,” you rationalized.

“You’d know a thing or two about that,” Haechan teased.

“I would, exactly why I’m confident in this,” you winked. “We’ll be back before you guys notice.”

“(Y/N), catch,” Jeno tossed something towards you, which you caught easily. It was a necklace with a circular charm with a blood red stone in the middle. “Keep that.”

“I know, I know,” you rolled your eyes and pulled the necklace over your head, you turned to Tony. “You wouldn’t happen to have extra civilian clothes on hand… would you?”

After that flurry of events, you finally found yourself standing in the heart of New York City, wearing a Stark Industries hoodie and cap and next to you was Jaemin, who was in similar attire save for the black mask and sunglasses he wore. The first thing you noticed, strangely enough, was the smell, it reeked of gasoline, trash, and humidity, not something you could say you appreciated. Next came the sounds, something you had failed to take note of during your sudden pursuit of cash, people were chattering amongst the car horns and traffic, then there was the loud blasting music coming from, well, _somewhere_. It was very different from D98, and you didn’t know if you liked it for better or for worse.

“Well, lead the way, Peter,” you nudged the brunette, who was staring at his phone.

“Oh, right, yeah, follow me,” Peter walked at a reasonable pace so that you and Jaemin could keep up while doing some innocent sightseeing. Another thing that stuck out to you was how, for a lack of a better word, _primitive_. Everything was, to you, old models of technology. Then again, you took into account that every dimension was different, in terms of advancement and in terms of science, not to mention you had no idea how magic worked here aside from the fact that it _doesn’t_. Renjun and Chenle were using residual magic brought along from D98 at most, and you found it troubling that a lot of your magic sources have been cut off. Although you all traveled to other dimensions semi-often, it was never on this level of un-usability, so to say. It was almost like something was _purposefully_ blocking out your ability to use magic.

But who knows? New dimensions always bring new obstacles, you’d have to look into it later.

“Yo, (Y/N),” Jaemin waved his hand over your face. “How much longer are you going to stare at the doors?”

“However long I want to,” you played off your embarrassment easily and followed the two into the library. The grand building was filled with bookshelves arranged in a row-column pattern, there were a sparse number of people around, some sitting in the tables provided and some sitting between book aisles, and the only noticeable sounds were the hushed whispers and the flipping of pages, and maybe the soft clacking of a keyboard somewhere.

“Peter, are these friends of yours?” A kindly old woman, who you assumed to be the librarian, asks while she walks up to the three of you.

“Hi, Mrs. Donovan! Uh… yeah! This is—”

“Monica, hi,” you introduced yourself, immediately shaking the librarian’s hand. You figured that Peter wouldn’t be able to bull shit a name in time for it to sound natural at least so you cut in.

“Jay,” Jaemin nods his head.

“I hope I don’t sound rude when I say this, but no sunglasses are allowed indoors,” Donovan says.

“Oh, he’s blind,” you lied. Jaemin looked over at you and you could feel the sharpness behind his glasses. “Kind of. He can still see, but not _see_ , you know?”

“I had surgery.”

“Yeah, he got burning oil in his eyes,” you continued.

“Oh, goodness!” Donovan gasps. From behind you, Jaemin nudged the back of your knee and you lost balance momentarily.

“Yeah, It sucked a lot.”

“It did, we’re going to get going now,” Jaemin cuts off the conversation.

“Bye, Mrs. Donovan,” Peter quietly said while following you and Jaemin to the second floor. The small trio quickly made their way up to it and you and Jaemin both grabbed a book as soon as you got there.

“Which one did you get?”

“Atomic Theory, you?”

“Schrödinger's Theories.”

“Should I be doing anything to help?” Peter asks.

“How much do you know about physics?” You ask.

“I took AP Physics if that helps…” He laughs nervously. You and Jaemin exchange a quick glance, or at least you assumed you did, he was still wearing his sunglasses, and shrugged.

“Hand me an AP Physics textbook and let me see what you know then, we’ll probably ask you a few questions,” you all sat down on the beanbags provided in the library. You crossed your legs on top of the one you were on while Peter handed you a basic textbook titled _Physics in the Modern World 11th Edition_. The textbook was a good thousand pages long, and that didn’t even include the indexes, appendixes, or glossaries. With a quick check to make sure people weren’t paying attention, you opened the textbook and a small magical circle appeared on top of it, with a quick flurry of pages, you shut the book and handed it back to Peter.

“Oi, that’s cheating,” Jaemin mumbles with an uninterested tone, without even looking up from his book.

“So, to sum it up, you know what this dimension considers the basics, right?”

“I know a little more than that… but yeah, basically,” Peter answers.

“Okay, let’s talk physics then, the good news is that this dimension’s and ours have relatively the same laws of motion and gravity with some leeway in the realm of calculations but that shouldn’t be a problem. From what I can see it’s about roughly the same for electrical fields and voltage also, same thing with a difference in units though but that shouldn’t be a problem. What’s centripetal force here like?”

“Uh… force equals mass times velocity squared divided by radius?”

“Well yeah, duh, but like what’s it _like_?”

“Huh?”

“She means how does it affect spin in the long term. So, for example, let’s envision a motorcyclist inside a circular cage, if he moves in a circular motion for an infinite amount of time at an initial velocity of… let’s say twenty-six meters per second and keeps this constant speed, what would happen to the motorcyclist? Is the centripetal force even strong enough to keep him moving for that long? Will velocity even stay fixed? What would happen to the motorcycle?” Jaemin’s sudden interest surprised you. He looked head on at Peter, hands folded under his chin and waiting for an answer. “If you don’t know I can always just test it myself—”

“Yes, no, and both the motorcycle and motorcyclist would probably stay constant if velocity stays fixed, but in a real world scenario that’s not possible so the motorcycle would keep speeding up and eventually the spin force and the gravitational force and any other forces acting on the objects of interest will cause it to… you know…” Peter answered quickly and Jaemin nodded, going back to the textbook.

“Key term being “real world scenario,” right?” You clarified.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, cool,” you hummed. You tossed the atomic theory book aside and stood up. “And these are all the science books?”

“Every one that we have, yeah,” Peter answers.

“How about magic? Is that a normal thing here?” You ask. Peter shook his head. “Fuck…”

“But I might know someone who can help with that,” his eyes light up, and this once again catches Jaemin’s attention, who shut the book loudly and sighed.

“Well, why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”

~

Jeno sat in the room by himself, staring at your bed in particular, before standing up and walking to the window. The provided rooms weren’t luxury suites, but it beats having to jump around different motels like they usually did. He caught wind of a conversation about how S.H.I.E.L.D. just repurposed some cells into rooms, which would explain the dreariness. And he had to take into account that although S.H.I.E.L.D. hired them, they would be idiots to think that they trusted them. Out the window was just mass greenery and forestry, things that anyone would expect to see out of a secluded compound. But one thing caught his eye in particular, at one glance it was just a bird, but when he really focused on it that’s when he noticed that it wasn’t moving. Immediately, his hand went to the gun under his shirt, he turned and aimed at whoever was behind him.

“Dr. Strange,” a wry smirk rose on Jeno’s features.

“Your highness,” Dr. Strange addressed strictly. “You know, I keep a list of people who could be potential dangers to this dimension, and here you are.”

“A list?”

“Quite, but from what I remember, you _don’t belong here_ ,” Dr. Strange mutters.

“Nope, not at all, I’m a man out of his dimension. My father sends his regards,” Jeno leans on the windowsill now.

“I take it you know what I’m going to ask next.”

“Sure,” Jeno sighs. “S.H.I.E.L.D. hired a friend of mine, so I came along for safety purposes.”

“Wonderful, the Demon Prince has friends,” Strange scoffed while Jeno glared at him. “Does this friend have equally as devastating capabilities as you do?” Jeno hummed for a moment, mostly to add suspense he, of course, already knew the answer to that

“Potentially, yeah.”

“Potentially. So I would have to get rid of this “friend of yours” too when it comes down to it.”

“ _If_ , Doctor, _if_. Don’t worry, part of my job is to make sure that doesn’t happen. And lucky for you, there’s something in this dimension that I think will prevent this “devastating capability” to occur. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“Not in the slightest, no.”

“Well then there’s nothing to worry about. Now if you don’t mind,” Jeno turns back to the window and stares at the bird. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t waste my time any longer.”

“I don’t know what it is you brought into this dimension, but I’m going to need you to take it out.”

“No can do. Not until this job is finished, Doctor,” Jeno walks towards the Sorcerer Supreme this time. “Might I remind you who won in a battle of wits?”

“You’re not your father.”

“No, but I’m better,” Jeno called his bluff and stood his ground.

“If _anything_ happens, I will be back. The fate of this dimension _vastly_ outweighs my pride, your highness.”

“I’m sure it does, Doctor. Have a safe trip home,” Jeno taps onto the pendant around Dr. Strange’s neck and immediately time starts again, with the Sorcerer gone from the small room.

“Jeno!” Chenle threw open the door, shocking the older member enough for him to nearly shoot the member.

“ _What_ , Chenle?”

“Nothing I just felt this huge magical presence and got scared so I was ready to square up, you know?” Chenle held up two fists, each with golden magical circles appearing with them. “You good? What happened?”

“Nothing important, I was just using magic to see around the area,” Jeno explains.

“You had to use _that_ much magic?”

“… Yeah,” Jeno hesitated. “New dimension, you know? I was being thorough.”

“I get it, you should go take a nap, you used a lot of magic today and that can’t be good.”

"What about you?”

“Renjun, Jisung, and I are talking to the other Avengers, figured we should get acquainted considering we might be here for a while,” Chenle says. “I told them you were asleep though, you tend to be bitchy when we jump dimensions so I decided to save them the irritation,” Chenle laughs.

“Yeah, fine, just don’t reveal anything sensitive,” Jeno lays down on the bed and looks at the ceiling.

“Duh, of course not, see you,” Chenle leaves the room and closes the door behind him.

But he stayed outside of the room for a bit longer, staring at the door, there was something definitely off about that room, the energy he sensed wasn’t like anything he had ever encountered. Was he mad that Jeno was keeping a secret from him? A little, yeah, but everyone on this team had their skeletons, Jeno most of all, Chenle noticed at the very least. Truth be told, the only reason why he agreed to join the Maverick was to get to the bottom of it, and support Renjun to an extent also.

Either way, he wouldn’t get answers from loitering, so he walked back to the break room of the compound, the sound of laughter and amused remarks coming from it.

“Hey, what’s up?” Jisung asks.

“Nothing, I thought Jeno needed something but I guess he didn’t,” Chenle shrugs. “Anyway, back to our “Grill the Maverick” session. So where were we?”

“You were telling us about what the Avengers were like in your dimension,” Sam answers.

“Right, fucking pricks,” Chenle laughs. “They think they’re so high and mighty, above the law and everything, I’m surprised people aren’t more afraid of them,” Chenle takes his seat next to Renjun.

“This dimension has something called the Sokovia Accords, right? Prevents you from acting on your own,” Renjun says. “We don’t have that in our dimension. The Avengers work independently from the government, but the trade off is that if the Seraph calls they have to answer.”

“Who’s the Seraph?” Steve asks.

“She’s something of a President for you guys,” Jisung answers.

“Except morph her with a commanding general and UFC fighter,” Chenle adds.

“But also with the looks of a model,” Renjun sighs.

“Don’t forget genocidal maniac,” Chenle continues.

“Right, how could I forget?” Renjun scoffs.

“Oh,” Bucky clears his throat. “Sounds like an angel.”

“She is, _literally_ ,” Renjun says. “See, our dimension’s very different from yours. Angels, demons, and humans all exist and we all know of each other’s existence, we just choose to stay in different worlds. It’s taboo for the two to mix also, could lead to immediate execution if they’re found out,” he explains.

“The Seraph is an angel who moved to the human world and started a safe haven for humans in our war riddled world, after she arrived it was like everything just stopped. And we didn’t find out why until recently,” Chenle says. “Turns out, she massacred thousands of wizards, back then magic was outlawed and considered evil, and suddenly she legalized it, and now everyone uses magic. And the history books decided to leave that convenient detail out,” he finishes.

“Sounds like you guys have messy politics,” Steve says. “We’d know a thing or two about that,” he laughs.

“Messy is one way to put it,” Renjun admits.

“So, magic. That’s just like a curricular thing in D98?” Sam asks.

“Yeah, we learn it during grade school, and you can go to university to learn higher forms of it if you want, then you can go on to specialized jobs,” Renjun explains. “Chenle and I both went to the University of the Seraph, it’s the highest magic school you can get into, we graduated in our class’s top ten and got scouted to join the Order of Magic, and it’s all history from there.”

“And now you’re in the Maverick,” Bucky says. “Jumping from a military unit to a vigilante group? I have to ask, why the downgrade?”

“They were planning on sending the Order of Magic to massacre the Kingdom.”

“Oh—”

“I didn’t want to be a part of that so I left. There’s more to it, but (Y/N) would be done with the D.T. by the time I finished explaining,” Renjun laughs. “Chenle here tried to get me to come back with him so we wouldn’t get executed.”

“I can’t even get eggs without fearing I’d get blasted,” Chenle sighs.

“Then why join? The odds were stacked against you.”

“I think I speak for a lot of people when I say this but… I owed (Y/N) a favor.”

“I did too,” Jisung raises his hand.

“And I,” Chenle adds. “So did Hyuck, so did Jaemin… and a lot of other people who aren’t _in_ the Maverick but help us out from time to time. (Y/N) has _connections_ , and I’ve long given up on trying to figure out how she got them.”

“Connections are important to have in today’s society, yeah,” Steve says. “She’s certainly a character too, isn’t she? First thing she did in this dimension was kill a couple of people.”

“Well, she _is_ an assassin alongside this vigilante stuff. She and Jeno have been affiliated with the U.A.L. for a while,” Renjun says. After noticing the confused looks, he further elaborated. “Underground Assassin’s League. They’re independent of any and all allegiance, and they work on a scout basis. No one knows who runs it, but (Y/N) and Jeno aren’t allowed to leave, so they just take on a couple of jobs per month to keep whoever is in charge happy. I just wish those two could catch a break, they’re always working.”

“How old did you kids say you were again?” Sam coughs.

“Early twenties,” Jisung whispers.

“Lot of things to happen while you’re this young.”

“Pay a visit to D98 once we finish the D.T., we’ll show you why,” Renjun leans back on the chair.

“Can I ask you a quick question, Huang?” Steve asks.

“Sure.”

“Who exactly _is_ (Y/N)?”

“Honestly, we don’t know much ourselves. And most of what we know we’re not allowed to tell you since that’s her business she trusted with us. But what I can tell you is that her mother disappeared, no records on her, and her father is this multi-trillion-dollar business owner. He makes weapons for the Seraph and, of course, people _always_ want weapons. But I also know that they’re not on good terms, (Y/N) never talks about her family, and there’re no records of her being in that family either, whether they were stolen, destroyed, or tampered with, it’s like she never existed to them. And for whatever reason, she’s okay with that, or just prefers it. Her job isn’t one to be associated with a golden family like that,” Renjun clicks his tongue.

“Oh, and her half-brother is in the Avengers too.”

“ _Oh_?”

“Baekhyun, right? He’s their captain,” Chenle pulls up a picture of him on his phone. “He’s cool, he can manipulate light, that’s not an easy element to control,” he says.

“Do they talk?”

“Nope. I don’t even think he knows that (Y/N) is alive,” Renjun says. “When (Y/N) went missing she burned down the mansion, she doesn’t have pleasant memories from that place from what I know. I still remember the headlines, now that I know the truth I feel bad. They pinned the blame on the family butler, and now he’s serving a life sentence. But you guys don’t need to know that, I honestly don’t know why I’m telling you so much, maybe it’s because of the jet lag.”

“It’s _definitely_ because of the jet lag,” Jisung nods. Someone knocks on the door.

“Come in,” Steve calls. In comes Hyuck and Jeno with Changmin in tow, all three holding large chests. “Good to see you again, Mr. Shim, when did you come back?”

“Hey, Captain, just now,” Changmin nods in his general direction.

“I thought you were asleep, Jeno?” Chenle asks.

“I was, then this guy teleported in my room and woke me up by dropping this chest on me,” he huffs while placing the chest down.

“Here you go, brats,” Changmin drops the chest on the table, Hyuck placing his next to it. Renjun, with furrowed brows, opens it and grows wide eyed once he saw what it was.

“How’d you get these?”

“You’ll have to thank Mark next time you see him, I told him about your predicament, so he swiped some crystals from the storage rooms,” Changmin chuckles. “Guess you can take the boy out of the Underground, but you can’t take the Underground out of the boy,” he half-jokes.

“This should be enough to last us a year,” Chenle gasps. “Why’d he grab so much?”

“Probably as a just in case, knowing Mark,” Hyuck says. “And here I thought he abandoned us for the Avengers,” he says with a faux sadness in his voice.

“Where’s (Y/N) and Jaemin?” Changmin asks.

“They went to go _read_ ,” Hyuck scoffs.

“Hand this to her when she gets back,” Changmin hands Jeno a small box. “Don’t open it.”

“I won’t,” Jeno says.

“I was talking to them,” he looks over at Hyuck, then at Chenle, who both raised their hands.

“We won’t! We know better than to be up in (Y/N)’s business,” Hyuck defends himself.

“Alright, I’m going back for good then, don’t bother me,” Changmin fiddles with the watch around his wrist and, in the press of a button, he was gone again.

“I’ll never forgive (Y/N) for giving him the cool watch D.T.,” Chenle stands up from his chair and grabs one of the crystals from the box, placing it in front of the three Avengers. “These are our lifeline. D98 is filled with them so we never had to worry about bringing any, and they’re usually scattered around other dimensions too, but this dimension is either lacking or just doesn’t have any. I’d explain the science for it but I didn’t take any science courses so I won’t, just know without this, we can’t use magic,” Chenle shrugs.

“Chenle, let’s go put up that protection charm, yeah?” Renjun grabs a crystal from the chest and stands at the door, waiting for the younger member to catch up.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there!” The other member grabbed the crystal again and followed him out.

“Magicians and their ‘let’s finish this already’ attitude… would it kill them to take a break?” Haechan walks up to the break room’s fridge and pulls out a water bottle, chugging it down in one go. “Bye,” he walks back into the hallway towards his provided room, leaving Jeno and Jisung behind.

“So—”

“Don’t even think about it. Jisung, let’s go before you share something not meant to be shared,” Jeno takes one of the boxes, Jisung taking the other, and they both left. Leaving one final box behind. Steve opens it and takes one, holding the crystal up to the light. It had a faint violet hue to it, and when held against the light it would refract in rainbows around the room. The crystal itself was lightweight, almost the same weight as an average phone, but when he squeezed down on it with increasing force the crystal remained unaltered.

“We should take one of these to the labs,” he finally says.

“Uh… I don’t know about that one, Steve,” Sam shakes his head. “You heard those kids. That’s _magic_ , we don’t know anything about that. For all we know, that could blow up the compound if we tamper with it too much.”

“Right… but we know someone who _does_ know a thing or two about magic. Let’s go on a little road trip, then. Pack up, boys.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Language, Graphic Violence, Gun Violence
> 
> Notes: Let’s get writingggggggg haha

“Sungchan, come get this please,” Jaehyun’s voice pierced the noisy atmosphere of the police department.

Jung Sungchan, current intern in precinct 127 of the Order of Justice and with big dreams of becoming an investigator. He was born with a special ability known simply as Clairvoyance, or such he’s been told, and since then has determined that the right job for him had to be in criminal justice and has since worked hard every day to prove that he was ready for the job, something that his boss would argue otherwise. And before anyone asks, _no_ , he hasn’t been able to foretell when or even _if_ he gets the job.

“Yes, sir!” Sungchan ran up to the department supervisor and took the file from his hand.

“The _coffee_ , Sungchan.”

“Oh, right, I knew that,” Sungchan placed the file back down and took the empty mug, walking over to the break room to refill the plain mug. “ _The coffee, Sungchan_ ,” the young recruit mocked his supervisor while he brewed the coffee, waiting for the machine to complete its job while he looked through his phone.

“Sungchan!” Shotaro’s voice was cheerful when he walked into the break room. The copper band with magic crystals sewn into it around his upper right arm was telling of his senior’s recent promotion from overworked intern to bright field officer. Sungchan and Shotaro had started together, but the latter had been promoted faster than Sungchan could even think about asking, not that he was bitter about it, no, actually he already knew that Shotaro would get promoted before him. “Still on coffee duty?” Shotaro’s face fell. For a while, it was him and Sungchan who would do these coffee runs together, and Shotaro would be lying if he said that he didn’t feel a little bad for leaving his coffee buddy behind after his promotion, but Sungchan was always quick to tell Shotaro not to worry about him.

“Yeah,” Sungchan crossed his arms while he waited for the coffee to finish pouring into the mug. “I just want to solve some crimes already… my ability can help so many people.”

“Have you tried explaining to Director Choi?” Shotaro asks. “I’m sure once he learns about your clairvoyance he’ll promote you to investigations…”

“I _have_ told him, but he said that it’s all the more reason why I should wait longer… he just told me to use my clairvoyance to find out when I get promoted…” Sungchan frowns. “It’s stupid.”

“You’ll get promoted soon, I’m sure of it!” Shotaro smiles. The coffee machine stops and Sungchan took the cup. “I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah—” Then, something Sungchan hadn’t felt in _forever_ , really. A sharp pain on the right side of his head, a sudden migraine that he thought he could get used to at some point, but from his experience, it had only gotten worse. He dropped the mug, the scalding coffee splashing on the tile floor, but the burning sensation on his feet was the last of his worries compared to the splitting headache. He grabbed onto the side of the counter right as Shotaro ran up to him and tried to hold him up.

“Sungchan!” Shotaro’s voice was just barely audible over the piling voices in Sungchan’s head. Sungchan shook Shotaro off and knelt on the floor, he clenched his jaw and tried to focus on the voices, trying to get them to shut up, but when he shut his eyes a plethora of vague and foggy scenes flashed in rapid successions, like photos on a camera separated by a flash, he could just barely make out what was happening, but amongst the noise in his head was one phrase he was finally able to differentiate from the chaos.

_“Bring him back!”_

He knew that voice from anywhere, and it was then that he suddenly realized something horribly wrong. Never, never did he know for that person to react or even sound like that, the only reason he could think of is if that person would be suddenly put into horrible danger.

The pain went away, and instead, Sungchan blinked and found himself kneeling in the puddle of now cold coffee and ceramic pieces, with the entirety of the police force looking at him and Shotaro handing him a towel. He looked around and spotted Director Choi, who only shook his head.

“Wait—” Sungchan stood up, taking the towel and drying off his slacks. “Director Choi!”

“Stick to coffee, Jung, you’re lucky I don’t kick you out of the force,” Director Choi shook his head.

“Siwon, come on,” Officer Suh frowned.

“Clean this up,” Director Choi fixed his suit and walked back into his office and the rest of the precinct went back to their jobs. Sungchan looked down and saw Shotaro cleaning up the mess. He knelt back down and started cleaning up the spilled coffee.

“That was embarrassing…” Sungchan ruffles the back of his hair harshly. “I just sent my investigator’s position flying out of the window,” Sungchan shakes his head.

“What did you see?” Shotaro asks. “Last time you had a premonition that strong, the Byun family mansion burned down.”

“Have you heard from (Y/N)?” Sungchan asks. “I need to ask her something important.”

“No, she hasn’t been answering my messages. I think she’s on a mission somewhere,” Shotaro frowns.

“Talk about timing, I need to find her now,” Sungchan grew more frustrated. Something big was about to happen, and he had a sinking feeling that you were going to be in the center of it very soon.

“Ow,” Shotaro winced and drew his hand back, looking at the cut on his hand. “Why are these shards so sharp?” He shakes his hand.

“Let me take a look,” Sungchan held onto Shotaro’s wrist and looked at the damage. “Looks like it’s just a flesh wound, should be healing soon,” Sungchan nods.

“That’s good, I should get it dressed,” Shotaro says.

“Yeah… geez, I can’t stop thinking about (Y/N), I heard her say something in my premonition,” Sungchan sighs. “Can I see your armband? I heard some of the people in the holding cells saying that it can heal small injuries,” Sungchan says.

“Uh, sure,” Shotaro slid the armband off and handed it to Sungchan. The taller of the two ran his hand along the crystals.

“I’m pretty sure we just…” Sungchan pressed the fabric onto the cut in Shotaro’s hand, and a small magic circle appeared above the fabric, just over the Order of Justice’s emblem, and once Sungchan removed the fabric, the wound had disappeared. “Oh, it worked!”

“You didn’t think that it’d work?!”

“I dunno, I just heard one of the convicts saying it so… you know… figured that I’d try it out,” Sungchan shrugs. He moves to get up, but his legs give in.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Then came another headache, one much stronger than the last. Two in a row? That was new. He held his arms over his head and clenched his eyes shut, he pressed the copper fabric to his head and silently prayed that maybe it would make the premonition go away. But, no, Shotaro’s voice drowned out completely, and Sungchan was presented with a series of events that he could only describe as _traumatizing_.

The chaos suddenly stopped. He was in a deep premonition now, the last time he had something like this he could barely remember, but one thing he knew for sure is that deep premonitions were sure to happen unless he intervened. He was standing in what he could only describe as a vintage-looking room, from the curtains and wallpaper to the furniture and flooring, it looked like it was straight out of a cottage storybook. Except for one _glaring_ detail. Blood, everywhere. It was painting the walls, adorning the floors, and even embellishing the furniture. The room itself was hazy in the corners, details were hard to make out, but Sungchan could clearly see the signs of a struggle ranging from broken chairs to slashes on the walls. But in the middle of it all?

Someone he owed a huge favor to.

 _Dead_.

The door opened beyond the body and a shaded figure stood at the bright doorway, but as soon as the figure stepped into the room, Sungchan was pulled out of the premonition.

“Sungchan!” Shotaro shook his colleague’s shoulders. “Hey! Relax!” Shotaro had concern written all over his face. Sungchan felt something drip onto his hand and he immediately touched his face, seeing the scarlet on his fingers.

“You were digging into your skin…” Shotaro’s voice was still distant, but Sungchan grabbed onto Shotaro, holding his arms with a strength that could only be comparable to a vice grip, Shotaro could even feel the copper fabric slightly _tearing_.

“We _need_ to find (Y/N).” That was all Sungchan had said before the room filled with a bright light.

~

“What are you thinking, Strange?” Steve asks. Strange turned the crystal around in his hands, studying it carefully under the magnifying glass. He squeezed it slightly to get a feel for the material while he did so.

“And you said this is from Dimension 98?”

“Yes.”

“I’m familiar with it, yes. This material can be found in various dimensions, but I have yet to find a sample here. It’s commonly referred to as Ethrium, and it is extremely rare and dangerously reactive if in the wrong hands. It does require a large amount of energy for it to be remotely destructive,” Strange explains. He breaks a small piece of the gemstone off and shows it to the trio. “Observe,” he encloses the material in his hand and a magic circle appears from it, then he opens his hand and points it towards the bookcase, within a few moments, various books had flown off of the shelf and gently landed on the table.

“Well, shit, that’s magic if I’ve ever seen it,” Bucky looks at Sam then at Steve. “So that’s it then? It’s magic?”

“In simple terms that you will all understand, yes. I just did a simple levitation spell, but with higher masses of ethrium you could do so much more. This material is a conductor of sorts, it harnesses the energy already flowing within a person’s system and amplifies it,” Strange explains. “The sigils that appear above and around the stones are part of the mystic arts. But they are rather simplistic compared to what I teach in my sanctum.”

“You said these are common in other dimensions, why not ours?” Steve clears his throat.

“The previous sorcerer supreme removed them. They deemed the people of this dimension _unfit_ for such a powerful material,” Strange says. “And I agree with them. I’ve seen this material be strong enough to destroy planets when unregulated. But you would need the same amount as the size of the United States times ten for that to be possible, at most, I think this amount of material could move a standard house from here to the furthest end of Staten Island. Still destructive, but not threatening.”

“Got it, Doc,” Steve sighs and looks off to the side. “Did Stark tell you about the people S.H.I.E.L.D. hired? They’re an interesting group, kids compared to us,” Steve says.

“Are we allowed to tell him that?” Bucky looks worried.

“Probably not, but they’re from another dimension, I feel like Strange should know,” Steve says.

“He has a point, it is my job to protect against the other dimensions and mystical dangers,” Strange sits back down at the back of his desk, continuing to look through the document he had been reading prior to the Avengers’ arrival. “I’m sure you’ve been made aware of another group that has arrived around the same time as your employees, right? The sort of _anti-Avengers_? I’m more concerned about them than of the seven _children_ who arrived,” Strange states.

“We saw one at the compound, some evil spider kid,” Sam huffs. “Parker wishes he can fuck shit up like that,” he laughs. Bucky fist bumps him behind Cap while they both snickered.

“They’re dangerous, I did some research on them, and I genuinely can’t find a good alternative to get rid of them aside from kicking out the group S.H.I.E.L.D. originally hired, but knowing Fury, that’s not an option. I considered bringing it up to Stark and have your team deal with them, but no matter the outcome I see, it results in massive casualties and irreversible consequences that I cannot risk,” Strange shook his head again.

“Why can’t we do anything about them?”

“Laws of the dimensions. Coming into contact with your alter could destroy the multiverse.”

“Seriously?”

“More or less.”

“So what then? Can’t we just _not_ fight our doppelgängers?” Steve proposes.

“I will _gladly_ kick alter-Bucky’s ass,” Sam offers.

“I would _love_ to throw alter-Sam off a cliff,” Bucky retaliates.

“That is one option,” Strange pays no attention to their banter. “But it still runs the risk of dimensional chaos. I’ve decided to enlist in the help of people who are experienced with this group,” Strange says.

“Is it the only option?”

“It’s the one with less repercussions, but it would take a lot of money on the side of S.H.I.E.L.D. to keep their identities concealed, they’re rather prominent figures here and not to mention from the same dimension the other travelers are from, it’s all a mess now.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be talking about D98’s Avengers, would you? Some of the Maverick members were telling us about them, they’re interesting characters for sure, and they work _nothing_ like we do, from what the Maverick told us they’re more ruthless in some aspects.”

“So I’ve heard, but I’m afraid that I don’t have any other choice. And as for the _Maverick_ , I’d prefer not to enlist in their help, and even if they were the only choice, I’d never be able to out-pay whatever amount S.H.I.E.L.D. offered them to build that Traveler.”

“So that’s it then? You’re waiting for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s approval to hire these people?” Steve taps his foot. He didn’t like the Maverick one bit, ever since the group arrived there were rising problems everywhere and the knowledge of another _sinister_ version of the Avengers possibly lurking around the city somewhere wasn’t something the Captain was fond of knowing about. If it were up to him he’d boot them back to the Dimension they came from, he was confident that if Tony was able to figure out time travel he could crack dimensional travel too eventually, he didn’t see the need to have another group come in and do it for them _especially_ when he knew that they probably didn’t even want to be here themselves.

“Steve!” Bucky hit Steve’s arm.

“What?”

“Look,” Bucky points at the crystal they brought with them, which now had a light inside of it progressively growing brighter. Strange stood up and held the crystal, studying it to figure out what it was doing. Then he quickly threw it on the floor, the rough textured gem merely sliding across the carpet.

“Move away! _Now_!” Strange presses up against the wall and the other three Avengers follow. The red cape wrapped around Strange protectively while the light grew to the point that the room was filled with white only.

~

“Well, he’s not here,” Jaemin frowns after knocking on the door for a fifth time. Jaemin pushes his hands back into his pockets while Peter knocks on the grand door again, mumbling something about how embarrassing it was for him to come all this way and drag you both with him only for Strange to not be at home. Finally, at Peter’s eighth knock, the door swung open and visible relief washed over the boy. “Mr. Wong!”

“Hello, Peter and…”

“Monica,” you pointed to yourself.

“Jay,” Jaemin was quick to follow suit, as always.

“We need to talk to Dr. Strange,” Peter says. Wong looked between you and Jaemin, then to Peter, and spoke.

“Strange isn’t here right now, I’ll have him contact you as soon as he’s free,” Wong nods and shuts the door, leaving the trio flabbergasted and, frankly, speechless.

“That’s it?” You asked Peter.

“Seriously?” Peter sighs while his shoulders sink. “Of all the times… I’m sorry, guys.”

“Don’t worry about it, Peter,” you gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s about time I started working on that Dimensional Traveler anyway, right? Let’s head back to the compound.”

“Wait!” The door opens again, Wong seemingly out of breath, as if he ran back to the door to make sure the group hasn’t left yet. Maybe you were imagining things, but you were quick to catch the brief glance the sorcerer focused on the pendant around your neck. You subconsciously hid the pendant inside of your shirt. “Strange just returned.”

“Oh, that’s… oddly _convenient_ ,” you hummed.

“Come right in,” Wong stepped aside and allowed the three in. “Welcome to the New York Sanctum.”

As you began to ascend the stairs, following the sorcerer closely, you briefly studied the many artifacts kept in cases and displays around the building, each of them, for whichever reason, rang warning bells in your head. You always had this uncanny knack for being able to tell just how _lethal_ something was by just looking at it, something that has aided you many times in sudden encounters, but also something that you wished had an _off_ button.

Wong led the trio to a seating area just beyond the flight of stairs, there were drinks waiting for them on the coffee table and snacks just next to them. You and Jaemin had synchronized thoughts, wondering if this whole thing had been an elaborate setup.

After all…

The Elite and the Avengers were _exact_ doppelgängers of each other.

You didn’t ignore the way Jaemin kept fiddling with his wristwatch, he was ready to call for backup at a moment’s notice, and so were you. It’s not that you didn’t trust Peter, well actually yeah you didn’t trust him, but you wanted to give him a chance. The last time you put trust into your employers it didn’t end up too well and you had to bust Hyuck out of a tall castle while Jaemin slew a dragon and you’d rather not have _any_ kind of repeat of that.

You shuddered, you didn’t think you could handle hearing Hyuck sing an off-key version of One Day My Prince Will Come again. Not again. You’re not strong enough for that.

“Strange will be here momentarily, I’ll inform him of your arrival.”

“Thank you,” Peter said to him while Wong walked off.

“Peter!” You called out to the boy just before he sat down.

“Yeah?” He looked confused, but you stepped towards him regardless.

“You’ve got something in your hair, it’s been bothering me for the past half an hour but you’re so cute I didn’t want to say anything, anyway, let me get it,” you pressed your lips in a straight line, watching his face heat up until he nodded. “Ugh, I’ve always liked the nerdy ones…” you mumbled while you reached up to the side of his face.

“Sure, yeah,” he says. You turned his head gently and tugged on a random section of his hair, pretending to take something off, and all the while you glanced at the side of his neck.

A telltale sign of a Follower, regardless of position, was a branding on their neck. It was a dark letter “N” often accompanied by a shield if in a lower position and a sword if in the Elite. You had researched on it only briefly before, it was essentially a marking that would keep them safe once Nemesis returned to enact their reckoning, or something like that, all of the Followers were exempt from this mass display of murder.

But that was just an old folktale stemming as far back as the founding of the entire continent of Haven, something that was essentially _obsolete_.

Besides, should Nemesis return, that’s what the Seraph and the King were still here for, complete annihilation, despite the current _war_ going on between the two supposedly omnipotent leaders, but that’s a story for another time.

Then again, that was also a part of that old story, so you never paid it much mind. It was more of a nuisance to you if anything, something that you’d rather not entertain yourself with while you had much more _pressing_ matters to deal with.

“Got it, thanks,” you flicked the nonexistent particle away and took your seat next to Jaemin, grabbing onto the cup of coffee on your way. “He’s clear,” you mumbled. Jaemin nodded his head slightly, turning his phone on and scrolling through his pictures. You pulled your bag off and took out a small box. “Peter, want to come look at this?” You placed the box on the coffee table and opened it, taking out a small diorama from it.

“Is this the Dimensional Traveler?”

“A diorama of it, yes,” you took out equally small tools. “I like to plan out my devices on a smaller scale before actually constructing them, you know? There’s a small flaw with this design though, and I’m hoping you could help me out with it?”

“Uh… sure, yeah, I can help,” Peter leaned in closer to the diorama and looked at it. “Can you explain how it works first?”

“Duh, of course, how else would you be able to help me?” You rose an eyebrow and watched him turn red again for the umpteenth time since meeting you. You had to admit that you really _did_ have a thing for the nerdy ones, just look at him, he’s literally adorable and you want to shield him from the troubles of the world already, but back on track. “This is the main entry point, it’s designed in this circular shape to be able to concentrate ethrium, magic crystals, to allow for transport between dimensions. Centripetal force stuff, we don’t have to get into it. This structure is connected to this box here where we keep the darn thing powered, usually we can just shove a bunch of batteries in there and be fine, but we can’t do that this time because vibranium doesn’t work like that, see where I’m getting at?”

“You need a power source.”

“Yeah. One that won’t explode in our faces when turned on.”

“Okay, I got it,” Peter reaches out to take the diorama. “Do you mind if I—”

“Go ahead,” you pushed it closer to him and he held it up, looking around the diorama. “With this structure… I think you should just spread out the energy source. The main problem is what again?”

“The traveler stays powered on for three seconds before blowing up.”

“Okay, so maybe it’s because all of that energy is focused on this small area instead of being evenly distributed? Maybe try finding a way to arrange the input sources around this circular frame and the flow will be more distributed without focusing on one place for too long, right?” Jaemin looked up from his phone.

“The spider-kid has a point,” he says. “Let me write that down so we can try it,” he mumbles.

“Thanks, Peter, you’re a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for,” you took the diorama and placed it back in its box before placing it back into your bag. “I just want to build the darn thing already so we can go home, I have a lot of stuff to do,” you closed your eyes briefly.

“Hey, can I ask you guys a quick question?”

“Go ahead,” you opened your eyes and turned your phone on real quick, typing up a quick message to Jeno, just informing him that you were about to speak to the Sorcerer, before looking at Peter.

“What am I like… in the other dimension?” He asks. You frowned.

“For what it counts you tried to kill us,” you scoffed.

“ _Multiple_ times,” Jaemin adds.

“But, you weren’t a bad guy originally, in fact, the Peter we knew was just like you. He just had… one bad day,” you sighed. “That’s all it takes sometimes, you know? One minute Peter was even helping us out, the next we’re calling him Arachnid. He has a bounty on his head now.”

“What happened?”

“Well, a bad day. That’s really what happened to the rest of the Elite, something _bad_ happened then they decided to become vicious threats to society. For you it was Gwen Stacey, for Cap it was being thawed out of the ice, Romanov never left the academy, Barton was hired by the Kingdom, etc., etc.” you leaned back on the soft couch. “Let’s see… I’d tell you more about them, but every member of the Elite are the same as your Avengers, except for Stark and Wanda. Stark’s just a smart capitalist and Wanda’s just _Wanda_. Honestly, even the ways you fight are the same.”

“What does Wanda do then? Is she even a big figure in your world?” Jaemin looked up from his phone after Peter said that and you both had a silent conversation.

Looks like this dimension hasn’t found out about her being the Nexus yet, so it would probably be best not to tell this fresh out of high school kid about that. It would take too long to explain and it wasn’t even your place.

“No clue,” you shrugged. “I don’t spend time researching people who we either aren’t working for or aren’t trying to kill us, just to free some time up, you know?” You ignored your buzzing phone.

“You guys are my age, aren’t you?” Peter continues.

“Yup,” you answered him. You heard a small _thud_ and you and Jaemin sprang up, you flicked your wrist to the side and put on the mask that materialized from it.

“What? What’s wrong? What happened?!” Peter stood up next, looking around. Jaemin lazily put on his mask and sighed, still texting on his phone.

“Who are you texting, Nana?”

“Jeno.”

“Don’t.”

“Why?”

“He’ll tear the place apart, just _listen_ to me, okay?”

“Fine,” Jaemin turned his phone off and looked around. Then, the double doors just parallel to you shook, something on the other side was very obviously pounding against it, trying its hardest to get through, while a chorus of shouts and grunts were heard alongside it, your hand rested on the pistol concealed under your jacket, ready to spring into action. After an agonizing number of seconds, the door burst open, and a familiar _lanky_ boy stumbled out. Upon seeing you, he rushed forward, shaking off Steve who was trying to restrain him and grabbing your shoulders. Bucky and Sam were quick to run out, Bucky holding on to another familiar face and Sam looking confused at the two.

“Sungchan?!” Your jaw dropped when the taller one looked at you. “And Shotaro?” You looked at the other boy in custody of the Winter Soldier.

“You need to come back. _Now_. You’re in danger here!” Sungchan shook you gently with wide eyes.

“Wait, hold, how did you even get here? How did you even know where I was?!”

“I don’t know, all I know is you have to get out of this dimension!” Sungchan swallowed harshly and looked down at the floor for a second. “I can’t tell you what happens, if I say it then it will come true, but I had a premonition. You have to leave.”

“I can’t do that, come on, I have the whole Maverick here, I’ll be fine,” you grabbed his wrists and pulled them off of your shoulders, but he shook you off and grabbed you again.

“ _No_. You need to come back,” Sungchan shook his head. Jaemin stepped forward and held onto Sungchan’s arm.

“Let her go.” Sungchan complied without a word.

 _Bang_.

“What the fuck?!” Jaemin whipped his head to the side and drew his own gun out, pointing it at the source and firing without hesitation.

Sam stood his ground with pistol raised and an intense glare on his face, the previous bullet only barely grazing the side of his face. Steve and Bucky turned around.

“Sam?! What was that for?!” Steve steps in front of him. “Why’d you shoot?!”

“Cap?” Sam taps his ear. He wasn’t talking to Captain America, _no_. “I have the Vendetta in my sight.”

That’s when you realized, with your hand pressed against your chest, your position has been compromised.

“Vulture,” Jaemin fired again but Sam was quick to deflect the bullet.

“Monsieur! Pleasure seeing you again,” Sam turned the gun on Steve and Bucky, firing two consecutive shots. Shotaro quickly pulled Steve out of the way and watched the bullet hit the wall. “I’ll be taking that off of your hands.”

“Not a chance,” Jaemin stepped in front of you. “You good, (Y/N)?”

You looked at Jaemin, who was fuming, and he turned to you with a terse expression. You felt around your chest, looking for the bullet wound, but there was none and it was then you felt relief, slowly, you pulled your pendant out, the red gem was shattered with a bullet lodged in the middle. A burning sensation emitted from it and you ripped the thin rope off of your neck and tossed it in the middle. Everyone watched the dark red liquid spill out of the pendant in silent anticipation. The liquid moved itself rapidly, until a large sigil was apparent on the floor.

“Shit,” Sam grimaced. The magic circle finished materializing and a column of black appeared from it and, before you could even blink, then emerged the so-called Demon Prince.


End file.
